Mahogany Agony
by Zoram Selrof
Summary: Sequel to Phantom Chaos. Phantom Black gets lured into a trap of the Satella Police yet it turns out he was but bait to lure them out: a highly manipulative, elusive, and evil villain begins to wage a campaign of continued attacks using countless proxies and pawns: no - one is safe from the villain's reach. And, meanwhile, someone struggles to escape from them... Rated M for lemon.
1. Chapter 1: Chillin' December

**Mahogany Agony**

**By Zoram Selrof**

**Chapter 1: Chillin' December**

08:58 AM (Japan Time), Saturday December the 1st, 2206…

"… Zzzz… Hmmm… December already… The year's about to end…"

"AIE~H!"

"UWAH!"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! Gotcha, Subari~!"

"WAR ROCK!"

"Warus Rockus – samus!"

"I'm FED UP with that nickname!"

"Blame my imagination, Subari~!"

Hoshikawa Subaru, aged 14, had been sleeping on his room's bed and mumbling as he began to wake up: a scream rang out and he sprang to his feet from the fright until a familiar voice began to laugh so he groaned and got annoyed: it turned out War Rock, his Wizard, was the culprit of the ruckus and he was laughing as he flipped in the air above the lower floor of the room: Subaru got a twitch over his right eye.

"Amb my Invicibilus Modus!"

"What "invincible mode"! It's just your everyday trolling! 3 years! It'll soon have been 3 years! Almost 3 years bearing with your trolling!" Subaru exploded from built up exasperation and annoyance.

"3 years? Oho. I thought it'd been 666 days."

"1 year, 8 months, 6 days? Sheesh." Subaru grumbled.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Moon Ace will Ace the Moon!"

"That pun's OLD!"

"DOL! Disaster of Original Laughter!"

"That's - LAME!"

"Lick my shiny claws!"

"This guy…! I only escaped the madness for 4 months in 2204 during "Operation: Independence"…! And those times when Boss has to lock you in the server and shut you down!"

"Bossy~ strikes back! _Check it out_! Brightus Manus' Revenge!"

"Bright Man? A "Darkloid"? One of the Zenay III lot?" He grumbled.

"Yessir! By the way: did ya send Misora a photo?"

"A photo? No. Why should I?"

"Ya never know! Queen Tia says she must use it for _yoga_!"

"Sheesh. Queen Tia – sensei and her icy moods…! Now she wants to play with irony and sarcasm? She'll never thaw out, will she? We bothered to chase that criminal a few weeks ago but despite that she doesn't seem to be satisfied…!"

"And I beat the punk!"

"Shinobi? We dunno where the guy is at, anyway."

"In the Abode of Fallen Noblemen!"

"Sure, sure. That of the nobleman was made up by Omega – san to cloud Hyde's perceptions and fuel his ego."

"As expected of Marsus Warriorus!"

"Quit it with the Latin corruptions!"

"LATIN! Long Announced Tyrannical Icon of Nothingness!"

"TOO LONG!" Subaru groaned.

"Mwah, hah, hah!"

"Oi! War Rock! Stirring up trouble this early in the morning?"

"Big Five came~!"

"Sheesh! My name's Daigo and it doesn't mean "Big Five"!"

Subaru's dad, Daigo, stepped into the room while looking annoyed: War Rock came up with a nickname that he didn't like.

"Akane! A Kane! A Money! A Bell!"

"What did you say?" Akane popped her head into the room and looked annoyed.

"Dunno~! Blame the Fallen Satellite~!"

"Luna – chan is unrelated! YOU are to blame!"

"Oops. Guess Doc Frank will drop by with the zappin' wires so I'm off to comin' up with a duet with Moonus Acesus! _Ciao~_!"

War Rock warped out of the room and the whole family fumed out of built up annoyance and exasperation.

"He needs another session in the server!" Daigo fumed.

"Indeed!" Akane agreed with it.

"Totally! I'll wait until Monday. If by then the guy doesn't behave then I tell Master to lock the guy up in the server."

"What a start to this year's December." Akane sighed.

"Let's hope there isn't a ruckus like last year." Daigo muttered.

"The "Operation: Cirrus" deal, yeah…"

"Let's go have breakfast."

"Alright."

The 3 of them headed downstairs into the living room: they began to prepare their respective breakfasts and sat around the table.

"_Itadakimasu_~!"

"Ah! Nothing like some water in the morning. Washes away the thirst!"

"Truly."

"Hum. 9 Celsius out there. It's going to be a cold December indeed: but a bit warmer than last year." Subaru looked at the digital thermometer set on a window.

"I'll go check things at WAXA but only the Satella Police will be working today, anyway."

PO-PE-PI-PU-PA~H!

"What was _THAT_?" Daigo groaned.

"My Hunter – VG. Another of Rock's lousy hacks."

"Sheesh."

Subaru checked it out and found a photo on-screen of a _zombie_ that looked like it was going to jump outta it and eat you: Subaru was unimpressed and he simply deleted it.

"Nothing. A worthless troll."

"Guess that."

"That child…!" Akane sighed.

"I know, Akane, I know. I had to bear with the guy for 3 years aboard "Bonds", too!"

"His jokes became worse once he got used to Earth." Subaru sighed.

"Yeah. And Moon Disaster doesn't help, either."

"YO! YO! YO! Somebody rang up Moon Ace~? My 66 hours extravaganza will _ace_ ya 'till ya reach the moon! No need for _acid disasters_!" Moon Disaster's voice rang out across the town.

"And now he hijacks the school's speakers. Lovely."

The family sighed again and cleansed up the dishes and utensils used to make the breakfast: Subaru climbed up to his room and opened a drawer to pick his usual clothes: his red shirt, his pants and his boots.

"Let's go for a stroll and see if the mood's cherry or defeatist."

He opened the bathroom's door and stepped in: he undressed and entered the shower: he turned it on and began to shower while humming a melody.

_3 years…! A lot has happened indeed… The FM Invasion, the Mu Continent Crisis, Meteor G… "Operation: Independence"… The _debut _of those 2… Zenay III… The 1__st__ Omicron Battle… The "Nomad Emissary"… Darkus Mors… "The Hand of Wisdom"… "Operation: Cirrus"… "The Shinaides Affair"… Wizard City… The incident with that Clock Man guy… "ASS"… And the "Phantom Chaos" a few weeks ago…_

He applied shampoo to his head and resumed showering while he resumed his earlier humming.

_And we're already at 2__nd__ year of middle school… The class remains more or less unchanged… Tsukasa – kun came back slightly over a year ago and Kiboyama – kun joined the class… Gonta is still fat and slow-witted, Kizamaro is still short-heighted and sometimes he's got some go,_ _and_ iinchou… _ Don't get me started in there. She's turned exasperating to the point of getting obsessed with the idea that I and Rock Man are two separate persons…! She drives her parents mad and they always end up climbing up the walls in exasperation…! When will she realize life isn't like soap operas portray it? Sheesh. _

He applied shower gel over his body next and turned the shower on again to wash it up.

_Jack has improved but can still have moments in which he wants to act alone and play strong… Misora – chan is as cherry as always despite the pressure Queen Tia – sensei had been placing on her… Akatsuki – san still loves to eat up "sweet candy" the whole time… Yoiri – hakase keeps up her habit of sticking "-chan" to people's names… Not much has changed. _

He finished showering and dressed up before fixing up his bed: he picked a winter coat and headed for the door.

"I'm going for a walk!"

"Alright!"

"Later!"

He exited the home and shivered when he had his first contact with the chilly December air: the day was sunny and there were no clouds on sight: he walked towards the Big Wave store and spotted Ushijima Gonta coming out of it while looking puzzled or perplexed.

"Morning, Gonta."

"Oh! Subaru! Tell me: is Einstein a German burger?" Gonta suddenly asked in a hushed tone of voice.

"What? No! Einstein was a famed 20th century scientist." Subaru immediately replied, surprised.

"Nangoku – san says so but I had the feeling it was wrong." Gonta whispered next.

"Nangoku – san said that? How odd." He frowned.

"I know. But he said he heard a German say it one day in Jawaii." Gonta detailed next.

"I've got the feeling that German mister wasn't too sober." Subaru muttered with a hint of skepticism.

"Huh? Whaddya mean?" He frowned.

"He'd been drinking _sake_."

"Oh… I see…"

"Aha –hah! I thought as much! As foreseen by Kizamaro's 4th Law of Common Logic!"

"Kizamaro. Not again."

Saishouin Kizamaro rushed in while grinning and adjusting his glasses before closing his punches and placing them over his shirt as if feeling prideful: Gonta looked like he didn't understand a single word and Subaru groaned out of annoyance.

"What's up, Subaru – kun? Is my 4th Law of Common Logic too much for you to process?" He smirked.

"No." He drily replied with a dull glare.

Kizamaro gulped and his ego seemed to boil up on the spot because he began to shiver and sweat.

"Buruo~! What have ya started today, Gonta?"

"N… Nothing, Ox! It's Kizamaro's weird speeches!"

"More like his random ego."

"Pedia!"

Their Wizards, Ox and Pedia, came into the square: Ox looked like he suspected Gonta of having started up a mess but he quickly defended himself while Pedia sighed.

"Alright! You buffoons! What's this scandal? HUH?"

"YIKES! _I – IINCHOU_!"

"Oh great. The last thing I needed."

"Subaru – kun! You better…!"

"I know the rest, _iinchou_!"

"Don't cut me, you buffoon!"

"When did I become that, anyway?"

"LUNA!"

"YIKES! MOM!"

"Starting up trouble on Saturday morning? You never learn!"

Shirogane Luna had shown up while looking like she believed herself to be a noble and the others to be mere buffoons: both Gonta and Kizamaro gasped in surprise and Subaru groaned: when she began to order something he cut her and she replied in an arrogant manner.

"Mode! You whistleblower!"

"You were skipping homework, Luna – chan."

"And what if!"

"Ahem, ahem!"

"Yikes!"

"DON'T IGNORE ME, LUNA!"

Her mom (Shirogane Yuriko) rushed there and began to scold her: she lashed out at the Wizard Mode but Ms. Shirogane raised her voice to make her focus: Luna gasped.

"BACK HOME! NOW! Ah! Naruo – san! Do something about this rebellious child! If you want to be the heiress of the company you must prove your worth! By studying and earning high marks! And earning the necessary knowledge!" She reminded her.

_Ironies of life… She reminds of me of that girl Blood told me about, that girl from that town… _Subaru inwardly sighed.

"Yes, Mom…" She hung her head down.

"Move it!"

Luna dragged her feet back home followed by her mother: Subaru fumed and pocketed his hands on the pockets.

"Lovely. Saturday. Morning." He fumed.

"Whoa. What a ruckus."

"By the way, Nangoku – san… Was that German mister really sober or he'd been having some cups?"

"Well… Dunno… Maybe…"

Nangoku Ken, the owner of the "BIG WAVE" store, came out, surprised, and Subaru used the chance to ask of him about the earlier topic: he scratched the back of his head and frowned.

"BRAINSSSS…"

"UWA~H!"

"UWO~H!"

"UWE~H!"

A sinister voice rang out behind them and Nangoku, Kizamaro and Gonta ran away like they were gonna be slaughtered alive: Subaru merely stepped into the store and found Moon Disaster laughing there while being grumbled at by Nangoku's Wizard.

"You made me lose 2 customers!"

"YO! YO! YO! They need some heat!" He laughed.

"Moon Disaster. It had to be you. And War Rock." Subaru grumbled.

"Yo! Rock Man! What's up, man? Did ya hear my announcement a while ago?"

"Terrific."

"Where's the _bunshin_ sent by the punk?"

"Huh? Akatsuki – san? You got trolled by that guy there."

"YO! YO! YO! Acid Disaster, my comrade in arms!"

"SHEESH! How many times do I have to tell ya? I'm not in the same league as you or War Rock! End of the tale!"

"So we got fooled."

"More like trolled, Acid!"

"Shidou… If you don't cool it down then our Denpa – Henkan will be cancelled…"

"I knew that, Mr. Speaker!"

"I am not – a speaker."

"Now, now…!"

Acid Ace suddenly ran into the store while aiming his gun forward only to groan in exasperation and slap his forehead in defeat: Moon Disaster began to dance and flip while Acid made one of his usual automated and dry comments: Akatsuki Shidou growled back, Acid warned him, Akatsuki got exasperated and Acid began to get exasperated too: Subaru tried to calm them down.

"Today is December Super Bargain Day, right? What are the…? Oh by all the… Don't tell me that…"

"Sadly enough, Tsukasa – kun…"

Futaba Tsukasa came in, animated, only to groan in disappointment upon seeing the scene: Subaru sighed in defeat, too.

"What happened? The discount is meager or…? Shit."

"Welcome to the club, Kiboyama – kun."

"By all the… War Rock AGAIN?"

"And me! Moon Ace! YO! YO! YO! Gino Il Napolitano~!"

"I'M JAPANESE, NOT ITALIAN! I'M FED UP WITH THE MAFIA JOKE WHICH ISN'T HALF-FUNNY TO BEGIN WITH!"

A guy about the same age as Subaru and Tsukasa came in, firstly sounding surprised, then realizing, groaning and, finally, yelling out of built up annoyance and exasperation at the nickname.

Kiboyama Gino had bluish eyes and brownish hair: he seemed to be one or two inches taller than Tsukasa.

"YO! YO! YO! See ya 'round the 'rounding 'round of 'rounds!"

Moon Disaster warped out of the store and everyone groaned.

"By all the… I'm gonna tell that lion rascal one or two things!" Acid Ace growled.

"Go ahead, sir, go ahead…" Subaru sighed.

"Delighted!"

Acid Ace ran off while two Wizards floated into the store while sighing and sounding rather defeated.

"So, Tsukasa… The rascal did it again?"

"Sure did! Storm!"

Storm looked reminiscent of Gemini, the FM who'd picked Tsukasa as a host about three years ago.

His main body was shaped like a spheroid and colored in a patch of green identical to Tsukasa's hair.

His head was round and perfectly shaped: a white-like helmet protected it and included a pair of purple-colored thick shades: his skin was normal-colored and his face looked young.

Two sharp needle-like tools emerged from his armored and purple-colored forearms and replaced his normal hands.

The rest of the arms were painted with the black and yellow striping to signal "danger" as if hinting at the usage of the appendixes.

Like most modern Wizards, he had a hover device built into the inferior part of his body instead of legs which had been colored in the same black and yellow stripes combination.

"So, Gino…?"

"You know the tale, Miles. We got hooked."

"Sheesh. That guy will never know when to stay put?"

Mile's main body was more "humanoid" in shape and colored in a brownish color similar to sand: some patterns had been drawn over the body to form plates of armor.

His helmet had been painted sea blue and black shades hid his eyes yet it looked strong and resistant.

His arms were colored in a reddish color with white color stripes running up and down their length.

The forearms had extra armor on them and his hands' "skin" was black.

He carried a round golden shield with a silver edge and center on his left hand which was large enough to protect half of his body.

Like a Roman Legionary, he wielded a large lance with a brown body and silver spear set atop it: the weapon looked easy to maneuver and powerful at the same time.

He also had a hover engine built onto the lower part of his body which allowed him to remain air-bone.

"D-did the zombies flee?" Nangoku asked as he nervously checked the insides of the store.

"There never were!" The Wizard fumed.

"It was a troll!"

"BURUO~! My flames are burnin'! I'm gonna beat up the rascal! Just you wait, you rascal!"

"The only thing the guy manages to do is to ANNOY people. A lot. What a lousy jerk." Subaru fumed.

"It defies Kizamaro's 5th Law of Common Logic!"

"Will you quit with that idiocy?" Jack growled at Kizamaro.

"W-whoa!"

"What happened today?"

"Too much to describe. Really." Subaru growled.

"Lovely. And neechan now says we're but mice who dance to her flute's tune: we bother to find out that criminal who'd humiliated her and arrest them only for neechan to turn further cold and hostile…! A queen needn't be so cold and distant! Else it becomes a tyrant instead!"

"Let's hope she doesn't become a new "Ice Queen"!" Subaru fumed.

"The last thing we'd need!" Tsukasa grumbled.

"What's an "Ice Queen"? Ice – cream?" Gonta asked.

"No! A criminal!" Kizamaro corrected.

"A bad guy?"

"More like evil megalomaniac crazy and mad woman." Subaru listed in a rush.

"Oh yeah. When Vadous – san gets fits of anger he sometimes let out that string…" Tsukasa recalled.

"Mega-what?"

"Megalomaniac! Someone who dreams on about having power they really don't have or being far more important than they really are." Kiboyama described.

"So the "Nice Queen" wasn't a real queen?"

"ICE! NOT NICE!" Jack snapped.

"Whoa!"

"Go, Detective Riser!"

"So you showed up, HUH?"

War Rock suddenly showed up and Subaru directed an annoyed glare at the guy combined with that of all others there: War Rock didn't flinch and his grin merely grew wider.

"Jackie~! The square's waiting for ya~!"

"… Shut up." Jack growled.

"Fatman! Man a Fat!"

"E~H?"

"Kizamaro! _Kiro zama_! Take kilos, you!"

"E~H?"

"Tsukasa~! _Su Casa~_!"

"Will you quit it with the "Their Home" joke?"

"_Kyoudai~… Die~_…" He made up a lame pun.

"How original. Why do I feel like Sigma – san told you?"

"_Fox…! DIE~…! … Won't!" _He made a dramatic pause between "die" and "won't" as if to signal something.

"What, whoever it was didn't really die?" Subaru grumbled.

"Oho! Beware! It's the evil, blessed and repellent brigadier! Grave Joker's ghost strikes back!"

"Not Grave Joker again… I hated the bastard." Jack fumed.

"Let's leave the guy to troll at the mail-boxes."

The whole group left (save Nangoku since it was his store) so War Rock shrugged and warped out: the group gathered in the square.

"What do we do?" Jack asked.

"Ignore the guy! Tomorrow I'll have Master lock the guy in the server until the New Year comes! Has it coming!"

"Alright." Tsukasa nodded in agreement.

"Of course!" Kiboyama agreed as well.

"Guess that… And Moon Disasta too?"

"Disaster!"

"Sorry! Moon Disaster, there!"

"Fine. Let's scatter: it'll help improve the mood."

"OK. I'm going to WAXA and get up to date. We still don't know where those two ran off to, right?"

"We suspect the undersea behemoth but they could've gone overseas as well for all we know…"

"Let's begin the interrogation investigation!" War Rock laughed.

"Sheesh. You've been seeing "Totally Not Dangerous Detective Forever" again, huh?"

"Beware! Evilus Fangsus will bite ya! See ya!"

"Evil Fangs? Sheesh."

"Let's go to Dream Island. It'll help improve the mood." Tsukasa suggested to Subaru and Kiboyama.

"Ok. Lead the way."

"Let's go."

"I better finish the homework somehow or _iinchou_ will get mad at me and force me to eat vegetables for a week…"

"I don't want to be commanded to perform extra P. E. time so I better finish it too."

"You could've done it yesterday evening." Pedia sighed.

"Sheesh."

The group parted ways but they didn't spot a Voltic Eye Virus looking from inside of some bushes: it quickly jumped into the Wave Road and ran away while pushing a Denpa – kun out of its way.

"HEY! How rude! Watch out, you road-hog!"

Nobody else noticed that save for Ox Fire, who ran past it across the Wave Road while chasing War Rock.

"_Toro, toro, toro_~!"

"BURUO~! I ain't a bull and I'm gonna prove it here and now!" Ox growled back.

"Heh, heh, heh! Catch me, by Saxby!"

"Ignore them. Let's go." Subaru told the others as they climbed into the Wave Liner.

"Sheesh. What a morning!"

11:05 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Oh my. Shidou – chan, Acid – chan… You look so sour… Did you try out Everlasting Finite?"

"Hakase~… What's that supposed to be?"

"If memory serves…"

"… Sheesh. Acid. Look it up."

"Roger. Match found. Popular night-time cocktail which saw its peak of popularity in the 2170s… Very strong… Can easily cause insomnia… Fell out of popularity after it was found out that the recipe had been copied off a Thailand brand…"

"Oh my. I could've sworn it was jazz music."

"Sheesh. Hakase~…"

Akatsuki had made it back to the WAXA Japan Branch while looking tired and defeated: Dr. Yoiri met him in the lobby and suggested something: Akatsuki seemingly knew the pattern so he rolled his eyes: Dr. Yoiri stopped to try to recall and Acid listed the details: Dr. Yoiri was surprised since she seemingly was convinced it was something else.

"Akatsuki – kun! There's a "Horocrux" in the vending machine!"

"And what the heck is that, Utagai – san?"

"I don't know either. He got an email signed "A. S." a while ago and he's been yelling that to everyone he stumbles upon."

"The punk sent that? Why do I feel like it was War Rock again and his lousy jokes inspired by Sigma?"

Utagai Shinsuke rushed over there while looking pale: Cygnus, his Wizard, explained what was going on so Akatsuki sighed.

"Utagai – kun! It's but an empty soda can! So come back up already and let's get back to work!"

"Is t-that so, Amachi – san?"

Amachi Mamoru walked over to him while carrying an empty soda can having the word "HOROCRUX" carved on its label using a claw: Akatsuki rolled his eyes.

"See? Told ya…"

"YIKES!"

"What happened, Ryuusuke? The mouse-trap again?"

"Yeah! In my drawer!" A Satella Police Commando complained.

"Sheesh. What a mad morning. What next?"

"Bertie~…"

"Saxby~…"

"Come to my side~…"

"Not that joke again… I already heard it 2 years ago. I never saw the point to it, anyway. Go tuna." Akatsuki sighed after he heard some voices ring out through the speakers.

"And mackerel!"

"Show your hide, Rock."

"I'll show ya my non-hide!"

"How original!"

War Rock was the culprit yet again and he grinned while Akatsuki directed a bored and dull glare at the guy: War Rock warped out and Akatsuki sighed in defeat again.

"What a lousy and lame guy…"

"Like you, Akatsuki?" A voice rang out of his Hunter – VG.

"Sheesh. Queen Tia. Stop hacking into my Hunter – VG!"

"It is useful to figure out if you have committed sins."

"Sins? You're now telling me you don't want to see me with another girl?"

"Hmpf."

"You spoke too much. So now we're back to old – times' jealousy. It's better than all the other stuff you've been doing insofar."

"Don't tell me." She drily replied.

"Queen Tia… When will you stop being so cold and distant? A real Queen doesn't behave like that. You're behaving like a tyrant instead."

"I don't care. I must prove I'm above these plebeians."

"Sheesh. Neechan! That's one of dad's bad influences."

Jack walked in and had seemingly heard the chat so he cut in.

"What do you mean?"

"I've got a vague memory that our dad could arrogant from time to time: even though most royalties nowadays interact with citizens in events and such… My dad tended to feel like he was a medieval King. I'm afraid neechan's behavior is influenced by dad's behavior." Jack explained with a sigh.

"Ah. So you remembered."

"Of course! Mom was always annoyed whenever she heard that and always told me to get out of the room while they discussed that. I remember that pretty well since I couldn't understand what was going on back then. I was about 5 or 6 years old."

"Hmpf. Father said so and such… So I have done."

"Sheesh. Get back to Earth, Queen Tia!"

"What would a drill man like you know?"

"D-drill man?"

"Oh come on."

"What now?"

"That was mine but I said "drill woman" instead to... _iinchou_, see."

"Well. You weren't very sociable at the start so…"

"I know."

"I know that you must be struggling."

"You're not gonna tell me you're encouraging Rock and Moon Disaster to burn us out every day, will you?"

"Who knows, Detective Riser?"

"Sheesh."

"Hit a vibe? You do have countless weaknesses, Akatsuki."

"Leave me alone, man! I'm just another plebeian, anyway!"

"Hmpf. True. It'd seem that having to co-exist with you in Dealer set some odd ideas in my head. I will need to work to focus on my duties." She wasn't surprised.

"And by duties you mean the stuff you do that at that _yuri dominatrix_ club you're at, huh?"

"Who knows, Detective Forever?"

"Stop bringing those police dramas!"

"And if I don't want to?"

"Sheesh."

"You are in no position to order me, Akatsuki. Try proving you are worth of being a King… If Mr. King allows you to, but of course."

"Oh come on. That guy's not a king and you know it. He just picked that name after the Trumps "king"!"

"Hmpf."

"Come on, neechan… Be reasonable already and don't try to pretend I don't exist." Jack called out.

"Live your life, Jack. I shall live mine. Farewell."

"O-oi! Oh man! She cut me."

"What a stubborn gal…"

"My, my. What a complicated child."

"I know the gal's about to turn 20 and be a legal adult but nevertheless I won't cease to keep an eye on her! Maybe she will not let go of her "prey" so easily." Akatsuki growled.

"I cannot process such behavior." Acid dully commented.

"Simply say this gal drives ya mad!"

"So it'd seem."

They didn't spot a Voltic Eye Virus that had been hovering in the Wave Road some meters higher up: it slowly hovered to another spot yet a Battle Wizard was eyeing it with mistrust: the Voltic Eye slowly spun around and seemingly detected it was being monitored so it began to bounce up and down like basket – ball: the Battle Wizard frowned but then the Voltic Eye shot forward, rammed into him, pushing him out of the Wave Road, and ran off: the Battle Wizard hit the floor.

"Whoa! What happened?"

"A suspicious Voltic Eye, sir… It fled after ramming into me, sir."

"Someone was monitoring us. King once suggested using those as monitoring devices." Jack warned them.

"Hyde and the punk, obviously enough! We'll have to be on the watch-out for more of these." Akatsuki grumbled.

"Acknowledged. I shall warn all of the Police Wizards."

"Hmmm… Somehow I feel there's more to this…" Jack muttered.

"You're over-thinking, man. OK! Guys! Let's get on the move!"

"Roger!"

_I've got the hunch trouble is about to drop by… BIG TROUBLE…!_


	2. Chapter 2: Of nobles and barons

**Chapter 2: Of nobles and barons**

13:13 PM (Taiwan Time), Sunday December the 2nd…

"… Lord Hyde."

"What is it, my fellow?"

"My Master summons thou."

"Excellent! He must have a new request for me. Let's go, Shinobi! And don't forget your manners, my valet!"

"… Yes, Hyde – sama… That of the valet…!"

"Huh? Did you hush something?"

"N-no, Hyde – sama!"

"Hyde~… Don't get cocky, will ya?"

"Be quiet, you half-paid tabloid envoy!"

"Fine. But then don't say I didn't warn ya."

"_Kuu, kuu, kuu… Chii… Chii…_"

"Oh. Be quiet, Assassin. Go slaughter some cattle."

Hyde, human ID of Phantom Black, had been sitting in a _tatami_ of an oriental-like room somewhere and reading _Hamlet_ until a man who looked like a manservant came in, bowed, and made an announcement: Hyde glanced at a teen guy sitting across the table and he stood up as well while mumbling.

"Alright, Shinobi… Who was the composer of "Moonlight Sonata"?"

"Eh… Mozart, was it?"

"No! Beethoven!"

"Hyde~… What point is there to teaching that to Shinobi, anyway?"

"My valet must have some culture! And prove he's not a barbarian come from southern lands!"

Shinobi, the "valet", was a teen guy about Subaru and the others' height and maybe he was about their age too.

He wore _ninja_ wool clothes which were a balaclava with an opening on the rear, a wool black sweater, pants, socks and sandals.

His hair was brown and it jumped out from behind in a spiky and wild manner.

His eyes' irises were red.

He carried a _katana_ sheath on his back along with a leather band which stretched diagonally across his chest.

He now looked somewhat annoyed and defeated given Hyde's odd behavior: Phantom, the Mu Denpa Body, was hovering next to Hyde and sighing in defeat: another voice rang out.

"… _Ushii… Ushii…_"

The owner of the voice was another Denpa Body that hovered around Shinobi.

Assassin was reminiscent of a typical ghost, having a white body with no legs and a hood with a Halloween-like face carved on it.

Its "eyes" shone with reddish light.

It flew out through the open inner garden door and to the sky while Hyde and Shinobi marched forward, crossing a classical Chinese wood bridge over a small river: the garden had a Zen feeling to it and it was obvious that the owner of the mansion had to be pretty rich.

"Heh, heh, heh… Taiwan is good! It brings forth inspiration! Such as… The Taiwan Hamlet!" Hyde laughed.

Shinobi sighed in defeated and rolled his eyes as if being fed up with his master's eccentric ideas.

"The Baron is waiting. Do come in."

"Alright. Good morning, Mr. Baron."

"Mr. Hyde. I've got a new job for you. Insofar you've fulfilled all of them while others failed miserably. I expect a great success tonight as well."

"Tonight, eh? Where?"

"Japan. A government lab… But sit down and let's talk about the details in a comfortable manner."

"As you wish."

Both entered another room which had a balcony overseeing a densely forested valley with a town built on it some kilometers away: a man had been standing there and looking at the view before turning around and walking inside.

"Good. Remember, Mr. Hyde. I, the Night Baron, expect my agents to strike at nighttime, swiftly and blinding the security."

"I know, I know."

The man, Night Baron, wore a black suit along with a black necktie, a blue cloak that was open, a tall neck, a top hat and a white drama mask that had a creepy smile drawn on it and two creepy eyes as well: his normal eyes' irises were blue in color.

He could be over a meter and eighty tall, maybe closer to a meter and ninety tall.

He gave the impression of being someone powerful.

"Alright. The lab is small. There were 10 employees. One of them was an insider I sent but they got found out. Security is minimal: an electrical fence, cameras and 5 Battle Wizards."

"Piece of a cake! What's the catch?"

"New anti-Noise weapons…"

"Oho. Portable, I take it?"

"Indeed. That was as far as my insider got before he got discovered: the idiot tried to be too blunt and was suspected."

"My, my. They tried to look up to some police drama."

"Guess so. It's of no consequence. Anyway. I want you to get the schematics tonight at 11:30 PM."

"Won't the cops be expecting us?"

"No need to worry. That lab was disguised to pretend to be a civilian lab and such security is low. I called them and posed as an underground whistleblower and told them you'd go assault the larger, official lab 200 km NNE from there…" Night Baron chuckled.

"Oh! Splendid! As expected of Mr. Baron!"

"And they will be assaulted by a horde of Viruses that will keep them busy enough until you get the schematics and run out of there. Once you confirm that you are outside of their chase range then I shall recall the Viruses and leave them to taste bittersweet defeat."

"Bittersweet defeat…! Indeed!"

"Zing! Bring the facility schematics!"

"Yes, my Lord."

The manservant brought a suitcase which he placed atop the table: Night Baron made a dismissing command and the manservant left the room while Hyde opened the case and looked at some schematics accompanied by photos of corridors, Battle Wizards, password input panels, armored doors, one segment of an electrical fence, and so on.

"Hum. Your insider did a good job… No need for Shinobi to scout… I assume only the Battle Wizards will be there by then?"

"Indeed. All staff is still under investigation by the Satella Police: they got paranoid and now see spies everywhere."

"Heh, heh, heh. You deserve that, Akatsuki!" Hyde chuckled.

"Mere luck." Phantom muttered.

"Be quiet, you half-bribed evening tabloid envoy!"

"Yes, yes. Gotcha." He sighed.

Shinobi inwardly sighed and was seemingly trying to bear with Hyde's fancy insult words towards Phantom.

"Don't come crying at me later if you get into a pinch."

"Hmpf! Like I will. This'll be a piece of a cake. Thanks to Mr. Baron's resources… I shall fulfill this job!"

"I expect no less of you, Mr. Hyde. Well then. Other matters recall me so let's meet at 9:30 PM. I'll be out the whole afternoon and evening. Take your time to prepare the strategy."

"Alright. Good morning."

"Good morning."

Night Baron stood up and walked out of the room: Zing bowed as the man quickly strode away: Hyde began to check the schematics in detail and Shinobi looked at them as well.

"Just in case… Akatsuki is the prudent type. I wouldn't be surprised if the Ox guy or the Cygnus guy got placed as extra security. You'll sneak in, cause some ruckus, and rush out. During the confusion I'll get the schematics and run away. Let's then use the Sky Wave and hide in the Bermuda Labyrinth. From there we can go fetch the Cosmo Wave and get back here…" Hyde exposed his plan.

"Acknowledged. I could try to create a _bunshin_ that looks like Master and make them believe we weren't expecting such security and we decide to pull out… They'll surely fall for the bait, Master."

"Heh, heh, heh… I'm a genius!"

"You just happened to find that fella who got easy jobs for ya."

"Be quiet! I, the descendant of London's Hyde Manor, order it!"

Both Phantom and Shinobi sighed in defeat.

"Get ready, Satella Police! I'll make you taste bittersweet defeat! Hah!"

15:55 PM (Japan Time)…

"… MALASAHA~H!"

"Whoa! What was that, Misora?"

"Dunno, Harp."

"Who was that?"

"Not me, Urakata – san!"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. The curse of the Malasahah!"

"What's that? A Thailand Emperor?"

"Dunno."

"Pororon! I know that tune of voice. War Rock. Show your lion wannabe hide. Pororon!"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Did ya like my newest gag sponsored by Black Demon – sama~?"

"Cha mean that Sigma brute, War Rock. I know cha."

"Yo! Misora! Did ya get the photo I sent?"

"I deleted it."

"Huh? Why? Queen Tia said that…"

"Sheesh. And now Queen Tia – sensei wants to make fun of "that"? What a lady: after all the trouble she had us go through…!"

Hibiki Misora had been writing down a draft of a new song in her change-room within Okudama Studios when a voice rang out across the building's speakers: Harp, her Wizard, fumed and called out for War Rock who showed up: Misora sighed and mumbled in an annoyed manner when War Rock brought up Queen Tia's name.

"Oho. Queen Tia wants ya to marry Subari~, then!"

"If you wanna think of it like that…" She didn't seem to care.

"Pororon! But if ya dare to make it public then ya get punishment: cha and that Sigma brute!" Harp warned.

"Mwah, hah, hah. We'll see 'bout that, by Malasahah!"

"COME AT FULL POWE~R!" A heavy manly voice rang out next.

"Whoa! What now!" Urakata Mamoru complained outside.

"Dunno." Shizuka muttered.

"Some troublemaker?" Ice wondered.

"Black Demon – sama says: Malasaha~h!"

"Not another prankster…! What's with the Security Wizards?" Urakata complained.

"Eh… Urakata – san… That troublemaker's level of power is way above us, sir, so…"

"Lovely!"

"Yo! War Rock! Ya were here… Hey there! Hibiki 'n Harp!"

"Sigma… They didn't tell ya it's rude to butt into people's rooms?"

"But Subari~ did it, didn't the guy?"

"Sheesh. He had a good reason! I forgot to give him the "Admission Card" so that he could come in! I should've told the Security Wizard but it slipped my mind! There was no other way around! There!"

Sigma, the newcomer Wizard, was about two meters tall and was colored jet black: a red spheroid could be seen set on his chest area and it seemed to be missing the armor over its mass.

His face had two red eyes and one shone brighter than the other: two horns, one of which was almost erased, were set on the sides of the head.

These added a "demonic" look to him.

Green data flows moved around his body and he held a massive black and green sword in his right hand.

Sigma was currently aiming at that sword towards the floor in a lazy manner.

"Brad Shad says: Shady Brady!"

"How original." Misora fumed.

"SIGMA~!"

"Yikes! Dr. Lartes!"

"I told you to check on security and you don't do that? Do you want another season shut down in the capsule or what?" A voice growled over a radio band.

"R-roger, I'm on my way!"

"You better be! Or else…!"

Sigma quickly jumped into the Wave Road using the Wave Station and rushed outside of the studio building: War Rock chuckled and Misora merely directed a dull glare at the guy before standing up, picking her coat and scarf, and getting out of the room.

"What's going on, Misora?" Urakata met up with her.

"No big deal, Urakata – san. Rock and a prankster buddy. But the buddy got scolded by his CO so he's going to resume inspecting outside security else he gets punishment… It's better to ignore them, sir." She quickly summed up with a sigh.

"Alright."

"I'm going for a walk. Be back in a while…"

"Fine. Some fresh air will do well."

"Sure."

Misora came out outside and spotted Sigma checking the tennis court as if making sure there wasn't anything weird there: he suddenly jumped towards a tree and grabbed something with the left hand before jumping back down: it was a Voltic Eye Virus.

"Gotcha, ugly! Akatsuki told me to be wary of these and the fella was right, by Malasahah! Confess! Did Hyde send ya?" He grumbled as he held it very close to his face.

"Did something happen, Sigma?"

"Here, Blood! This guy!"

"Ah! Good catch. I found one next to the pond but it fled."

"Hey. Blood Shadow. Been a while."

"Sure, Misora – chan."

Another Wizard met up with Sigma in the tennis court.

Blood Shadow looked rather similar to Rock Man but with several design alternations to him: his main color of choice was red.

He sported black shades and a flock of messy reddish hair came out from behind the helmet given how it only covered the face and the front of the head: his ear-pads had two purple "V" letters drawn inside of them.

His armor had the purple letters "BS" engraved on the chest area while his legs were colored black and had two red stripes running down the legs' sides in a parallel manner.

His right forearm was covered by a device colored red coupled with a piece of it which was colored transparent red: a small indentation near the wrist had the same "BS" initials engraved there: and, where the hand would be, a large double-barreled shotgun emerged instead.

"Beep. Laertes will poison Hamlet! Beep!" The Voltic Eye apparently played a pre-recorded message.

"Sheesh. And now Hyde makes a pun out of my name!" Dr. Lartes complained.

"Dunno why, but… I feel some _déjà vu_ for some reason or another." Blood Shadow muttered.

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me." Dr. Lartes fumed.

"Beep. Be quiet, you half-bribed morning tabloid envoy! Beep."

"Hyde still tells that to Phantom? I'm surprised Phantom hasn't ditched him yet." Misora muttered with slight surprise.

"Beep. I'm off through the noblemen's road. Beep."

The Voltic Eye suddenly self-destructed and got deleted so Sigma grumbled under his breath.

"Let's search for more of those!"

"Let me give a hand. Denpa – Henkan! Hibiki Misora, On Air!"

Misora performed "Denpa – Henkan" and became Harp Note: she began to search across the Wave Roads and headed for the Stunt Car: she used the "Cyber – In" feature to jump inside and explore its Cyber World: she soon stumbled upon 13 Voltic Eyes that seemed to be in hibernation status given their lack of activity.

"Found 13 of them here, in the Stunt Car Cybernetics…" She whispered over the radio.

"Good. We'll converge there. Be quiet, Sigma!"

"Alright, alright…"

The other two converged on Harp Note's position and they nodded to each other before jumping for the Voltic Eyes: they all woke up and began to try to attack them yet they dodged: Sigma gripped one with the left hand and a greenish glow surrounded its body.

"Nothing! It hasn't recorded anything. It only has an emitter and receiver and the frequency is encoded." He reported.

"Same over here…" Blood Shadow reported next.

"No luck either." Harp Note sighed.

"Beep! The Hyde Manor sentences you to… failure! Beep."

"Huff. Isn't that a parody of "The Court of Owls" in _Bat-man_…? And I feel some _déjà vu_." Sigma muttered.

"What's that? A foreign comic?"

"Huh? Ah yeah."

Blood Shadow seemed to direct a glare at Sigma as if telling him not to speak any further and Sigma merely shrugged yet the gesture did not escape Harp Note's sight.

"Beep. Continue your useless struggle as much as you want. Eventually you shall submit to me and you shall be exposed. Beep."

"Now Queen Tia – sensei uses these to send me messages? Sheesh: what a stubborn person!" Harp Note fumed.

"The gal…!" Sigma grumbled.

"Someone should psychoanalyze her." Blood Shadow groaned.

"They really should!" Dr. Lartes muttered.

"MALASAHA~H!"

"War Rock. That doesn't work anymore."

"Mwah, hah, hah. I've brought someone and no – one."

"Oh yeah?"

War Rock tried to scare them by yelling his stupid motto but none were impressed and even less by his silly joke that came next.

"Found you! Give me back the gardening scissors!"

"Oh come on. You had to drag Wolf Forest here?"

"Grrr! My blood's boilin'! Gimme the scissors!"

"And if I don't want? What'll ya do? Ring up Cousin Wolverine?"

"Dunno whaddya mean! THE SCISSORS!"

War Rock had apparently stolen Wolf Forest's gardening scissors and, as a result, he'd come to claim them back.

"I need scissors! 61!"

"Sheesh." Sigma apparently knew the source of the joke but wasn't in the mood for those now.

"Sigma…!" Dr. Lartes scolded.

"I know, sir, that I am a bad influence!" He admitted.

"Fine. At least you admit that."

"Yo! Wolf! Wolverine will steal ya screen-time!"

"I don't give a crap for that!" Wolf complained.

"Grrr! You've asked for it!"

"Beep. The wolves will eat themselves. And then there were none. Beep."

"Wasn't that a novel's title?" Harp Note frowned.

"A 20th century mystery novel by author Agatha Christie, yeah… Several persons trapped in an island begin to show up dead one after the other and no – one can be sure of who'll be next or who the killer is." Blood Shadow summed up in a few lines.

"Pororon! So! That message recorded in the Virus means to say that they'll all kill themselves." Harp guessed.

"Essentially."

"I heard there was a ruckus. What happened today?" Acid Ace rushed into the scene.

"This rascal stole my gardening scissors!" Wolf Forest yelled as he kept on chasing War Rock.

"Lovely. And what else?" He sighed.

"We found all of these but we can't figure out their control frequency due to the heavy encoding. Maybe Acid can do something about it?"

"Leave it up to me."

"Beep. Speakers of political intentions should stay away from sins of flesh and mind. Beep."

"Another message from Queen Tia? Sheesh. She does love to come up with ways to beat around the bush."

"Catch me, Wolf – chan!"

"GRRRR! MY BLOOD'S BOILIN'!"

"Hmmm… This seems to be a military encoding system… But some years old… Some pieces aren't properly assembled or compiled… Maybe it's a cancelled product that was almost complete… It might've gone over-budget and such was scrapped without being properly tested." Acid calmly analyzed.

"Somehow I don't see Hyde as the type to bother so much: I mean, he could've picked any actual protocol…" Blood Shadow muttered.

"Maybe K & K stole it time ago and Hyde stole it from them?" Sigma suggested.

"Ah. That makes more sense."

SLASH! RASH! THUD! OW! GRRR! A~U~H! GORRAWA~H! GRAWAH!

"Ignore those." Acid Ace told the others as the sounds from War Rock's and Wolf Forest's fight became louder.

"Roger. The origin of the signal seems to be somewhere in Taiwan."

"Taiwan! So that's where Hyde & Shinobi fled to…"

"I'm trying to narrow it down: it uses a LOT of repeaters and it clones itself every twice or thrice so it's getting harder to find the exact latitude and longitude." Acid informed them.

"Guess it's a system that K & K bothered to set up and Hyde stole it from them: he wouldn't have the patience to program something so complicated to begin with."

"Beep. My foreign valet shall teach you not to butt into my noble and gentleman affairs! Beep."

"Sure, sure." Blood Shadow drily muttered.

ZERYA~H! OUWA~H! GRAWO~H! RAOWA~H!

"Ulimateus Attackus of Deathus!"

"Dunno whaddya mean! Uppercut! Side-cut! Down-cut!"

"Ultimate Attack of Death? Sure thing." Sigma skeptically muttered.

"YO! YO! YO! The Claw Club is on the move! _And there were a billion shoes in a shoe that fitted into my golden cauldron's bottom_!" Moon Disaster showed up and began to sing some silly song.

"That's so stupid. Acid. Put on a hi-frequency filter to your audio input system so that you can't hear to that."

"Acknowledged. Filter: on."

"Let's do the same too." Harp Note whispered.

"I'm shutting down the channel. I'll monitor through video input. The system will subtitle all dialogues, anyway."

"… Xinyi Township area… Coming closer…"

"Good!"

"Beep. The Immortal Eternal Everlasting Orchestra shall overcome all living orchestras. Beep."

"How original." Harp Note muttered.

"_Until the bearded guy didn't yelp "bearded!" there weren't bearded guys!_"

"I dunno what the hell that's about! Shaddup!" Wolf Forest snapped back as he kept fighting.

"Ultimatus Rollingus Crashingus Attackus!"

"Oho – hah! YO! YO! YO! And here goes the Ultimate Rolling Crashing Attack!"

"Reports from other Battle Wizards… The other Cyber Worlds and Noise Waves had nothing abnormal on them." Acid reported.

"Are you getting closer?"

"Indeed. I seem to have seized the true stream. Here: 1 kilometer SSE of Mt. Yushan. Roughly in the center of Taiwan… Checking property registers… A city was established close by in the 22nd century and has been around for about one century… Several large houses… "The Red Lotus": property of a millionaire named Qing' Ban Zantanq." Acid finished his tracking of the signal.

"Excellent! Let's go report to the Chief and prepare a sortie: we'll surely catch Hyde with the pants down and be able to corner him and Shinobi: it's about time we gave them a lesson." Acid Ace smiled.

"Oops. It's almost time for me to be at the recording studio. I've got to record the song I finished a couple weeks ago… See ya!"

"I'll contact you later: it'd seem there'll be activity tonight."

"Roger, Akatsuki – san!"

"Alright. Let's bring some to the HQ: maybe our computer can figure out something else." Sigma suggested.

"I approve. The more we figure out about Hyde's plans the better."

"Let's have half and dispatch the other half to the Satella Police."

RA~RGH! GRU~WO~H! SLASH! THUD! PTAF! SMACK!

"Ugly! Thief! Old-timer! Me? That you! Say again!" They began to yell.

"YO! YO! YO! The Agonicus Battlus of Decadus!"

"Agonic Battle of Decade~? Shaddup!" Wolf snapped.

"The Colonel says ya go back: he'll do ya job instead! Nyah, hah, hah!"

"T-THIS CLAW RASCAL!"

"Let's go, Sigma. Ignore those guys. They look like pre-school, even."

"Sheesh. Guess I gotta learn how to behave…"

_Setting that asides… I've got a bad feeling about this… My imagination…?_


	3. Chapter 3: Nocturnal violence

**Chapter 3: Nocturnal Violence**

11:20 PM (Japan Time), Sunday December the 2nd…

"… Alright. It's almost the time. Let's go over the strategy once again, my disciple! Assassin Shinobi!"

"Roger, my Lord!"

"You'll spawn the copy and rush in. Cause as much noise as possible and lure the Battle Wizards away."

"Count on me."

"Then I barge in, get the schematics, and rush out. Let's meet in the Bermuda Triangle. If I don't come in 10 minutes' time… Return to Taiwan and await further instructions."

"Well. So you're finally being _careful_, eh, Hyde?"

"You shut up, half-bribed military envoy!"

"Military envoy? That a first. Bravo."

"Save your pointless sarcasm for your Venetian hide!"

"Hey there… I'm from the Mu Continent, ya know…"

"_Kuu, kuu, kuu…_"

"Don't laugh, ya."

"Assassin! Stay quiet. You'll soon have some drink."

Phantom Black and Shinobi's "Denpa – Henkan" form, Assassin Shinobi, didn't have much of a difference from regular Shinobi: he'd gained a purple cape hanging from behind his shoulders and two metallic _shuriken_ on his shoulders and knees.

His _katana_ sheath was painted purple and black while being decorated with four black dots around it.

The _katana_ itself had a red hilt with no decoration whatsoever: it was very plain.

"The schematics are inside of a vault but it is second-grade material and it won't stand up to my strength. Or I can simply warp inside, too… Heh, heh, heh…" Phantom Black chuckled as he looked at a "Real Wave" screen.

"Hum. So it'd seem." Phantom muttered.

"11:23… Wait another 5 minutes and then get in."

"Roger."

"_Kehaii… Chikaii_…" Assassin suddenly exclaimed.

"What was that?" Phantom Black asked.

"… "Presence"… "Close by"…"

"Presence? Ah! So they _did_ send some backup Denpa – Henkan user: but it gotta be the meek guys." Shinobi muttered aloud.

"Hmpf! Lure them out as well."

"Leave it to me."

"Hmmm?"

Both looked downwards and saw 2 or 3 silhouettes rush across the outer yard and into the building (cubical, with a few windows, and surrounded by a fence): they seemingly got in because some light from the entrance illuminated the front porch.

"They've just come in. Guess they've thought of that right now. Akatsuki isn't taking any chances!" Phantom Black sneered.

"Guess that."

"Au~h! I'm telling ya guys I'll be fine! Full moon is still a long way ahead of us! And I've had time to recover from the morning brawl! With the claw thief rascal!" Wolf Forest began to yell: his voice could be heard through an opened window.

A couple of hushed voices could be barely picked and Wolf Forest grumbled as he fell silent: Phantom Black looked cocky while Assassin Shinobi rolled his eyes in defeat.

"11:28 PM… Go!"

"Roger!"

Assassin Shinobi jumped from the Wave Road to the roof and landed in a silent manner: he drew his blade and began to mutter something under his breath that sounded like a spell: the blade glowed with a crimson blood-like glow before he drew a circle in the concrete rooftop and cut a way inside: sounds of a scuffle ensued.

"Whoa! Grah! My back! Ugroh! Gra~h!"

"Heh, heh, heh. The sudden attack with 3 _bunshin_ is deadly for those who see it the first time… It could even bring THE Acid Ace down when I got into WAXA's Main Computer four months ago!"

"Yeah. But it was mere luck." Phantom drily muttered.

The sounds of scuffle continued: Wolf Forest was thrown across a closed window and he fell into the yard face-up: his Denpa – Henkan released and both Wolf and Ogami Juurou fainted.

"Heh, heh, heh… One down!"

"Lucky you."

"Shut up!"

"Yes, yes. But don't say I didn't warn ya."

"S-someone save us! It's the apocalypse!" Cygnus Wing yelped.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Time to pray~…!" Assassin Shinobi laughed.

"KYA~H!"

"Fly, you bird! Before I roast you up!"

"BURUO~! Bring it on, punk! I won't lose!"

"Fatman's debut, eh? Hoshikawa didn't come steal ya screen-time?" He taunted with a sneer.

"Wha~t? T-this PUNK!"

There were further sounds of a scuffle before Assassin Shinobi leapt out into a Wave Road opposite that where Phantom Black was at: both Cygnus Wing and Ox Fire ensued and chased him until he was out of sight: things got quiet.

"Chance!" Phantom Black sneered.

He jumped inside and found remains of a fight as evidenced by peeled off paint, cracks, mini-craters and such: the Battle Wizards were all beaten down and filled with cuts, some having lost the arms or others having been beheaded.

"Heh, heh, heh. As expected of my disciple…"

He rushed up the stairs and reached the topmost floor: the corridor had signs of a fight that had seemingly progressed to the lower floor: the hole Assassin Shinobi had made was there and close by was the entrance of the main lab.

"Here! Phantom Claw!"

He gripped the armored door and easily crushed into a heap of steel, circuitry and metal: he tossed it out through a window and rushed into the main lab: he spotted the vault door deeper in.

"Heh, heh, heh."

He quickly jumped over the work-desks and reached the vault's door: he did check around before warping inside: the insides contained several data storage devices arranged in rows and columns and having a "Real Wave" screen indicating their contents, the authority level needed to access them and their total size.

"Here it is! "Noise Counter Weapon: Mobile"… "Authorization: Dr. Yoiri, WAXA Japan Branch"… "1.55 GB"… Heh, heh, heh. I'm sure Mr. Baron has already secured the means to access it nevertheless. Let's pick this and be on our way."

He picked the data storage unit and alarms rang out: he shrugged and stored it on a case attached to his waist: the case automatically locked.

"Sorry to cut short your climax… Hyde!"

"What!"

"That's as far as you come!"

"You fell for the plan!"

"Shit! Acid Ace, Harp Note and Rock Man!"

In effect: the 3 of them had suddenly come out of nowhere and were covering his flanks and his back: he turned around and growled.

"We got a tip that you'd be coming here and that there'd be a distraction in the main lab." Acid Ace sneered.

"What? But then…! By all the…!" He suddenly gasped.

"Huh?" The 3 of them wondered.

"Baron…! You lowlife…! You double-crossed me! You told me you'd lured them to the main lab but no…! You wanted them to catch me…! Then this data…!"

"A fake. The research is conducted on the main lab."

"So there was never an insider!"

"Insider? And who's that "Baron"?"

"Night Baron! My employer!"

"So you got hired by that Taiwan millionaire, huh?"

"What! How did you found that out?"

"Your Voltic Eyes…"

"What Voltic Eyes! I don't need use such crude tools!"

"Huh? What does this mean, then? That that "Baron" guy was the one monitoring us?" Harp Note wondered.

"Wait… Could that mean that Hyde is bait for us?" Rock Man gasped as he came up with an idea.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah!" Night Baron's laughter echoed inside of the vault room.

"Night Baron! You triple-crossing archduke wannabe~!"

"Speak for your lowlife, Hyde! You've gotten your head filled with that "Hyde Manor" idiocy by Omega for a year and 3 months!" Night Baron countered with a sneer.

"So you never wanted this stuff!"

"I already got it from the main lab! I've got invisible pets." Night Baron laughed next.

"Invisible pets?"

"Akatsuki! The main lab got raided by invisible opponents! They broke through us and there was no end to them! A baron wannabe showed up too and stole the data on the weapons!" Ryuusuke reported.

"By all the…"

"I'm a genius!"

"I AM a genius!" Phantom Black growled back.

"You? Don't make me laugh, Birkin!"

"I'm not named Birkin!"

"I'm Wesker! And I'm above your pitiful self! I shall become the Demon Tribe Chief that shall rule over the Land! Under the command of the Grand Master!" Night Baron proclaimed.

"Grand Master?" They all wondered.

"Go! My pets!"

Some almost-invisible figures suddenly showed up of nowhere and leapt forward: they used invisible claws to slash through the air and they did get to inflict some wounds to the 4 of them because there was little space to maneuver: they all cursed and warped out into the rooftop but they were met with an ambush of them.

"It'd seem they're wall-climbing and coming from the ground too! Watch out!" Harp Note called out.

"By all the… What are these?"

"Hunters! The hunters become the hunted!"

"Sheesh!"

"Show your hide, you lowlife!" Phantom Black challenged.

"No need to! I'm everywhere! And nowhere! I'm the Nightus Baronus!"

"Sheesh. It doesn't feel so fun when they steal the motto off ya and they use it against ya." War Rock grumbled.

"We'll settle that later! We're trying to survive here, you know! Dynamic Wave! Atomic Blazer!"

"Elemental Cyclone!"

"Meteor Light Barrage!"

"Phantom Slash!"

"Struggle in vain! Soon enough… The Surface shall become the Grand Master's "makai"! It shall grow from beneath the ground and engulf the Surface!" Night Baron exclaimed next.

"I don't like the sound of that. At all." Rock Man grumbled.

"Some shall be granted a place on it! Others will die! And the worthy ones shall become our nutrients!"

"Become nutrients? What are you, cannibals?" Acid Ace growled.

"Hah! I'm too subtle for you lowlifes to catch on."

"Bad news, Akatsuki… The Taiwan thing was a fake: it's true that Hyde and this guy were there but the real owner had been lured out into a hi-class world tour ever since a couple months ago…" Ryuusuke reported.

"What! Then this guy had planned for all of this! Speak clearly: what's your damned goal?" Acid Ace demanded.

"Who knows? Soon, soon enough… The hordes of _oni_ shall rise and raze this pitiful world! To pave the way for the _makai_ to rise!"

"Something tells me this guy MEANS it!" Harp Note fumed.

"So! Hibiki Misora! What will you do?"

"Whaddya mean?"

"Will you use this chance to become nutrient for elite or do you prefer to be nutrient of the common herd?"

"What the hell are you…? Oh crap." She began to demand only to realize mid-sentence across.

"Oh shit." Acid Ace gasped.

"You can't be serious!" Rock Man growled.

"What, what?" Phantom Black frowned.

"You plan on resurrecting the "Secret Empire"!" Rock Man deduced.

"Correct!"

"And the "Grand Master" is "IQ", the former ruler of it! That is, the "Ice Queen"!" Harp Note added.

"Mwah, hah, hah. Detective Akatsuki taught you well!"

"Sheesh." Acid Ace fumed.

"THE "Secret Empire"? Even Dr. Orihime seemed to fear its very name and the power it represented! She was planning on wiping it off using Mu's power!" Phantom Black exclaimed.

"Would've actually done us a favor!" Acid Ace fumed.

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh…" Night Baron chuckled.

"What now."

"Have you decided?"

"Neither of those! I'll smash cha and cha ambitions now and here!"

"Ah! I like that reply. IQ – sama would approve of it. The revenge of the sacred female, as Their Grace always said!"

"What the… That's so idiotic." She fumed.

"And now… The climax is close by!"

"Shit. What next?"

"Watch out!"

Some meteors suddenly crashed upon the rooftop, opening holes on it and blowing up on the process: a huge shape floated down and it turned out to be Andromeda's 2nd form: it clasped both hands together and hit the rooftop with them: it collapsed and they fell down inside of the vault room: Night Baron was actually there and had picked all data storage units which he'd loaded inside of a "Stongo" Virus that was hollow: the cover closed and the Virus warped away before he chuckled and turned around to face the 4 of them.

"Catch me… if you can!"

He laughed and multiple "bunshins" of his form showed up: they began to jump, spin, roll, somersault and run in circles to the point that it was impossible to keep track of the original: the meteors Andromeda dropped down didn't contribute to it either.

"… Shit! We're sitting ducks here… Let's get outside of the compound already! There's a soccer field!" Acid Ace growled.

They warped to the soccer field and Night Baron followed them while making hollow echo-like laughter: they all attacked several of the _bunshins_ but more of them popped out instead.

"I'm too subtle for you lowlifes!"

He suddenly shot forward while covering his body with the cloak for a second: the next second only his hands, cloak, necktie, neck, head, mask and top hat remained as they eerily floated mid-air.

"W-what in the…" They all cursed.

"Can you see through this _magic_?" He taunted.

"By all the…"

"I'm invincible~! I've got the Triforce of Power!"

"Dunno what that is." Rock Man dully muttered.

"Heh, heh, heh. What if I tell you that I was the one who set up that trap to catch preys into which Futaba Tsukasa fell? I drove the van, the plane and was the owner of the auction hall!"

"YOU BASTARD!" Rock Man exploded into pure anger.

"Yeah! Anger! It makes me stronger! You lot's anger feeds me! The Dark Side of the Force is inviting you, Hoshikawa! Embrace it! And become Darth Rock Man!" He laughed.

"If you mean "Dark" Rock Man, there's already Kurayami." Rock Man quickly calmed down and fumed.

"Watch out!"

They jumped away just as Andromeda shot both green lasers from both hands and opened craters in the soccer field: Ox Fire and Cygnus Wing jumped down from above and tried to attack the armor but got nowhere: Andromeda quickly spun clockwise and shook them off.

"It's useless! You can only harm that when the core turns green! I had to learn it the hard way almost 3 years ago!" Rock Man told them.

"Devil. I knew we had a devilish weapon but…!" Cygnus grumbled.

"Buruo~! What a freak!" Ox grumbled next.

"I know!" War Rock added.

"Pororon! Who the heck build that?"

"Cepheus' ancestors, from what he told me!"

"The curse of the ancestor!"

"You shut up!"

"I see. He's wearing a mirror around his body to assimilate with the surroundings and thus gives off the impression that he's vanished. But that's all." Acid calmly analyzed.

"Sheesh. The speaker of political intentions had to bust it." Night Baron complained next.

"Sarcasm does not work on me."

"Queen Tia says otherwise."

"Huff."

"Hit a vibe? Claw Man?"

"Oi! Don't steal my titles!"

"Too bad, Warus Rockus – samus! You and Moon Ace should've patented them at the patent office!"

"Sheesh. This guy is getting me annoyed for REAL."

"REAL! Rocking Electrifying Advancing Licker!"

"Licker? Beej." Harp Note found it repulsing.

"Quit it with the sex jokes!" Acid Ace fumed.

"Six jokes? I lost count of 'em." Ox Fire muttered.

"They must be omens!" Cygnus Wing gasped.

"Oh. You be quiet." Cygnus complained.

"Buro~! Check out ya ears when we get back! Gonta!"

"Companion dispute, eh?" Night Baron taunted.

"The real body's riding atop Andromeda using steal camouflage but my IR vision mode detected him." Acid reported.

"Grah! Sheesh! Thought as much! Watching it all from you lowlife's VIP seat, huh?" Phantom Black hissed.

"Indeed, Hideous Hyde of Hides!"

"You commoner! You smallpox sequel! Wait 'till I catch you and make mincemeat of you!"

"Dream on, Hyde Manor's shameful descendant!"

"GRA~H!"

"No good." Phantom sighed.

"This guy is too random for my taste." Rock Man sarcastically muttered as if being exasperated.

"Heh, heh, heh… RANDOM! Rocking Allocating Notifying Demolishing Owning Madness!"

"TOO LONG!" Everyone complained.

"Too original for you lowlifes!"

"Grah! I'm fed up!"

"Fed up with your lifestyle?"

"You shut up!"

"Guess that." Phantom drily muttered.

"… Now! Attack! Mad Vulcan X!"

"Giza Wheel X!"

"Impact Cannon!"

"Air Spread X!"

"Phantom Claw!"

"Big Grenade!"

The whole group attacked the green core and Andromeda got momentarily paralyzed: Night Baron gasped and didn't seemingly expect that: Phantom Black jumped atop the head and shot his Phantom Claw to grip the guy: he growled and tried to break free.

"I'll crush each and every one of your bones! Hum, heh, heh, heh, heh!"

"Think again…! Masamuned!"

The Virus that yielded the Battle Card "Edogiri Blade 3" showed up and attacked Phantom Black from behind: he let go of Night Baron and turned to fight the Virus by using his Phantom Slash: Night Baron lost his balance and dropped into the ground (but since Andromeda was at ground level then it was short) and groaned as he somehow got back to his feet only to be caught by Ox Fire.

"Let go of me, Fatman!"

"Buruo~! Like I will!"

"Good job, Gonta! Now! Let's see your ugly hide." Acid Ace grinned.

"Aren't you forgetting SOMETHIN'?"

The invisible attackers suddenly came into the scene and attacked them again: Ox Fire had to let go to counter-fight while a squad of 13 "Masamuned" protected Night Baron as he stepped back while coughing and seemingly trying to bear with the pain of Phantom Black's attempt at crushing him.

"Fucking decaying nobleman…! I prefer Jill to this guy…!" He muttered with some annoyance.

"Not so fast!"

Phantom Black jumped down from atop Andromeda and gripped one of the "Masamuned" to throw it against another: he rushed towards the gap in the circle but the other 11 Viruses protected Night Baron from the incoming attack: Phantom Black snickered and formed his "Phantom Slash" to suck the Viruses in and then beat them with his Stick Sword: Night Baron rushed towards the compound as if trying to escape Phantom Black but got his path cut by Assassin Shinobi.

"Not so fast, you lowlife… My blade's eager to cut through you~… I'm the Alphabet Murderer!"

"I knew that already, by damnation! The Miloch wannabe and his neo-Soviet gang hired you last winter!" He growled back.

"So the glassy guy was a wannabe? Heh! And neo-Soviet gang? Sure they were: that General rascal…!"

"Not so fast! Wing Blade!"

"Uack!"

"Buruo~! Eat this!"

"Grah!"

"You're not running away anymore, Night Baron!"

"I've got no need to run away! Not without fulfilling my goal! "M. A." is about to be implemented!"

"What's that?"

Acid Ace tackled Assassin Shinobi from the left and dragged him away while Ox Fire rammed in a straight line, bringing Phantom Black forward with him: Rock Man and Harp Note aimed their weapons at Night Baron while Cygnus Wing was trying to distract Andromeda.

"Hmpf… I don't like spoilers! Take that, you runts! Yoiri gotta be the descendant of Wily!"

"I dunno who Wily was but it's surely unrelated." Rock Man skeptically muttered.

"Sheesh! Grah! It's gotta be the plot's fault!"

"What plot? Stop saying nonsense."

"Nonsense? Hah! I'm too grand for you lowlifes to grasp! Yo and behold: _Avada Kedavra_!" He tried to sound scary.

"What's that? A Greek joke?" Rock Man sighed.

"No! The sure-kill spell! Sigma should've told ya 'bout it!" Night Baron fumed and brandished the right fist.

"And what if he didn't? Huh?" Harp Note challenged.

"Sheesh. Anyway… Finally! It's midnight!"

"What! You were stalling time for midnight to come?"

"Yeah! Now I can get serious! "M. A." begins here and now! Andromeda: activate your newest weapon! Mwah, hah, hah, hah! Hyah, hah, hah, hah, hah! Nuhah, hah, hah, hah, hah, ha~!"

Laughing like a madman, he jumped atop Andromeda as it climbed until it was 5 meters over the ground: its core turned red and so did its eyes before it suddenly made its lower end spin and turn into a drill: it plunged into the ground and when it'd dug until the waist was at the ground level, then released a reddish energy ring which spread in a radius of 1 kilometer: it forcibly cancelled all "Denpa – Henkan" status on all the users there and they and their Wizards collapsed on the ground, KO.

"Heh, heh, heh. You underestimated me! And now you'll regret it dearly, I swear… Heh, heh, heh… Climb up, Andromeda! Get me my trophy! Heh, heh, heh… Let "M. A." begin…!"

Andromeda quickly climbed up and its right hand detached to float to the ground and use some system to make Subaru's inert body hover: the hand slowly closed around him while leaving some slight room so as to not to crush him: Night Baron inwardly chuckled as a purplish "portal" formed in the sky and both disappeared inside of it.

"… By all the…"

Assassin Shinobi, standing on the lab's rooftop, had seen what had happened: he looked down at the ground and saw how Gonta had recovered and was using his weight to keep Hyde glued to the ground and impede him from getting up.

"Shit. Master! I'll come to rescue you! Sooner or later…!" He cursed before calling out.

"Just go!" Hyde ordered.

He ran away while Gonta looked around and gasped.

"Subaru…? Subaru! He's gone…! Damn you, you punk!"

_GIVE SUBARU BACK! YOU MORON! I'LL BEAT YA TO A PULP! DAMN IT ALL!_


	4. Chapter 4: Repulsive lot

**Chapter 4: Repulsive lot**

07:07 AM (Japan Time), Monday December the 3rd…

"… Ugh… Grah… Ungh… What a… headache! My whole body hurts and I feel SO dizzy…! Where the hell am I…? Huh? What's this…? Oh shit. I know what's happened…!"

"_Check it out_! Welcome to my evil, blessed and repulsive turf! Hoshikawa Subaru!"

"Night Baron!"

"No… Gerudo Tribe King… Ganondorf!"

"Ganondorf?"

Subaru began to wake up while groaning and feeling a headache: a familiar voice rang out with plenty of sarcasm and he cursed when he realized the predicament he was in.

"Heh, heh, heh… It was worth it waiting some years… Your body is better now than it was 3 years ago…"

"What the…"

Subaru had been placed face-up on a bed placed inside of a vast room: most of it was unlit so it was hard to guess its scale: he could see four steel beams rising from the ground in the corners of one large grayish tile in the ground and until unseen heights.

_Where the hell is this at?_

He'd been stripped off his clothing and he had ropes tied slightly below his shoulders but above his nipples and another one where the torso began.

These ropes kept his arms behind his back placed one above the other and another set of ropes kept the wrists tied to each other thus immobilizing them.

His legs had been compacted with ropes around the hips and near the knees.

He also had a leather collar around his neck.

_Shit. Not S&M again…!_

Night Baron or, otherwise, Ganondorf, was looming over him while standing to Subaru's right: he'd taken off his clothes and had only a loincloth hanging down from a thin circle circling his waist and that hovered over his cock as if to hide its real size.

He had a rather dark-skinned body and an evil look to his red-iris eyes: his hair was reddish in color and he appealed to be on his late 20s or early 30s from the looks of it.

"Heh, heh, heh… How do I know that? I was monitoring you from time to time and spied you when in the shower."

"WHAT?" Subaru growled.

"But other stuff recalled me after the Meteor G deal and, by the time, I came back you'd vanished into thin air… I must admit that I fell for the smokescreen Vadous came up and it wasn't until later that I realized what had happened… Given the chaos that ensued when IQ – sama was arrested by the cops…" He chuckled.

"Shit. You're another of those leftovers!"

"Leftover? Hah! Wrong. I'm no mere leftover. I'm a fully fledged field agent, the only one Their Grace trusted in! I accomplished what other meek guys had been unable to accomplish."

"If you were aiming to break me down… I won't make it easy!"

"Heh! I knew you wouldn't. If even Futaba could overcome a year and half of S&M then… Heh. But I'll be using new tactics that those morons can't hope to comprehend!"

"Such as?" Subaru tried to look unimpressed.

"Such as Moon Disaster's newest show: the Moon Mexican Show!" He sneered.

"Moon Mexican Show?" He groaned.

"Don't believe me? Here's a sample!"

He snapped his right hand's fingers and some speakers crackled into life from several unseen spots.

"YO! YO! YO! _Burrito bonito_! Welcome to Moon Ace's Mexican Show for all Mexican fellows out there! _Hasta que el maligno ni dijo "benigno!" no hubo beningo maligno_! YO! YO! YO!"

"Someone save my sanity. It sounds like a poor attempt at a pun or a tongue-twister!" Subaru groaned.

"Heh, heh, heh. "Until evil didn't say "blessed!" there weren't blessed evils!"…" Ganondorf translated.

"Blessed evils? It's so STUPID!"

"That's why I said my tactics are different… I'll grant you what you hate the most and what you fear the most… Randomness and madness! Let's see how long you'll endure this! Preludes are over! Hah!"

"WHA?"

Ganondorf suddenly tossed the loincloth away and revealed a huge cock that could be about 7 cm wide: Subaru gasped in fear as Ganondorf sat on the bed and grabbed Subaru's leg ropes to pull his ass towards his already hard cock: Subaru couldn't impede his body from sliding forward and he gasped in shock when he felt the cock brutally pushing it was inside of him: he groaned.

"Heh, heh, heh. Let's get the show on the road! And don't trust Burai to get ya outta the mess this time around! I can't be found! This hideout is perfect! And I've prepared a lot of "entertainment" for the impatient lot out there… "However… For those holding their breath, waiting impatiently for their prey in this heat… I'd like to treat them to some hot, bitter coffee."…" Ganondorf chuckled before he was joined by a re-played voice that rang out of everywhere.

_T-this guy thinks he's funny…! But this cock is too big…! It's gonna tear me apart…! Shit…! But I'll prove to you that I'll endure it…! Just you wait!_

"YO! YO! YO! _Un pato dijo "patos!" y los patos vinieron_! A duck said "ducks!" and the ducks came!"

"I added an auto-translate algorithm! How's that like? No need to hire interpreters! Install that, you lazy UN bureaucrats!"

"Go to… Hell!"

"That's not in my script!"

"Sheesh!"

"Script is a trauma word, eh? Reminds you too much of Hideous Hyde of Hides?" He laughed.

"Shut the hell… up!"

"Oho. So your real mood is surfacing… Good, good… Otherwise it'd be too boring… I need them to struggle and fight and exhaust their strength until I drive them to the edge… There are plenty of devices here that'll make you feel like never before! Heh, heh, heh!"

"Shit…!"

"… Heh, heh, heh… And once I possess the absolute power… Once I possess the Triforce… This world's future shall be forever ruled by the Demon Tribe!"

"What… Triforce!"

"Heh, heh, heh. Dunno. Ask Akatsuki. But he'll tell ya it's a national secret." He sneered.

"You've made it up! I'm not an idiot!"

"Of course not. Else you wouldn't have gotten IQ – sama's interest ever since about 8 years ago. Because, ya know…"

"Shut up! As far as I care that person is unrelated to me!"

"Oho. So the guy's not your _aniki_~?"

"Of course not! Just someone I know! Omega – san will mincemeat you!"

"Omega! Hah! I'd like to see the guy trying. I'll have the guy and Burai sweat a lot today. Heh, heh, heh."

"Hell!"

"Yeah… This is Hell… The _makai_… There's no escape from here! It's about time Vadous realizes he's not an overwhelmingly powerful Demon! But a simple Light God wannabe! Hah!" Ganondorf snickered.

He snapped his right hand's thumb and index finger and a Voltic Eye floated down while transporting a silver suitcase: it landed next to Ganondorf and he opened it: he rummaged inside and drew two small metallic cups with weights on their ends and a string connecting them: he clipped those to Subaru's nipples and he gasped: Ganondorf began to pull them with the string and Subaru's moans increased.

"Heh, heh, heh. Your body will soon want more of this! Let the bodies hit the sex!" He laughed.

"That's… lame!"

"And now… My best shot! _Semejante maligno beningo repeligno no podrá con semejante repeligno beningo maligno!_ Such an evil, blessed and repulsive thing won't be able to stand up to such a repulsive, blessed and evil thing!" Moon Disaster laughed.

"THAT your BEST SHOT? You just switched the order of words! You lazy moron! And they say you're the Moon's strongest warrior? They all gotta be amateurs!" Subaru groaned out of exasperation and annoyance.

"Heh, heh, heh. Feel the despair!"

"Like I will! You smug cheating triple-crossing rascal!"

"Stubborn, aren't cha? Heh, heh, heh. The Mahogany Agony has but begun, Hoshikawa~… You'll soon crave for more~…"

The lights went off and all became pitch-black: the vague figure of Ganondorf raping Subaru could barely be spotted: the recording kept on.

_S-shit. This is bad…! But…! I'll endure… no matter what! I promise!_

09:09 AM (Japan Time)…

"… I'm telling you lowlifes I only knew that that bastard was named Night Baron!"

"And how did he find you?"

"I found a post in an underground board that said "I want Crimson. High pay. Bring me goods to this address."… And so I did! The guy immediately said that I was hired and with the money he gave me…!"

"You got reeled in."

"Hmpf!"

Akatsuki and another 3 Satella Police Commandos were conducting an interrogation on Hyde inside of a questioning room: Hyde had been handcuffed and was leaning both fists on the table: he looked angered while Akatsuki was cool and composed: Acid was hovering next to him as well.

"You tabloid-hired lot! Your victory is but a bittersweet victory!" Hyde sneered at them.

"Who said that of yesterday was a victory, anyway? It was a complete and absolute defeat." Akatsuki grumbled.

"Shidou. Be cool."

"Leave me alone, Mr. Speaker!"

"Not again…" Acid sighed.

"HMPF! Companion dispute, eh?" Hyde taunted.

"Well. Who knows?"

"You've lost your ace-in-the-sleeve!"

"I am the ace, mind you." He dully replied.

"Che!"

"Complain to Mr. Universe."

"Hmpf!"

"Oi! Akatsuki! Ya! Ya didn't find anything yet?" War Rock burst in all of a sudden.

"Misora, Omega, Burai, Lartes and Vadous are doing that! I'm here trying to get as much info in the culprit as possible! We need to know whom we're up against!" Akatsuki replied.

"Grrr! I'm going wild! I'm gonna smash all suspicious places there and there 'till I shave that rascal! Later!"

"OI! War Rock! Sheesh! What an impatient guy! Someone keep tabs on the guy…! Call Blood Shadow and have him keep tabs on the guy! On the double, Acid!"

"Acknowledged. Message transmitted… Reply received. Vadous approves of that too."

"So then. Akatsuki. Did you bring forth a disaster as your title beckoned, I take it?" Queen Tia's voice rang out of his Hunter – VG.

"Stop eavesdropping into me! Queen Tia! And take that back! I'm Acid Ace and don't believe anything that lion wannabe says!"

"And if I want to…? What will you do?"

"Sheesh."

"It is obvious that the culprit is not a commoner."

"Oh yeah? You wouldn't happen to be involved, would you?" Akatsuki demanded with obvious mistrust.

"Why would I support the old system? It would get on my way were it to resurrect." She dully replied.

"Sheesh. Not you too…! You need to thaw out or else you'll end up repeating the madness the "Ice Queen" caused!"

"History shall judge. Not a traitor."

"Oh yeah? We're back at that? Didn't you say you didn't care about…?"

"… Dealer? Hmpf. As an organization it was useful to set me on the path I must walk… And giving me the resources and the means…"

"By all the… We'll settle this later! I'm BUSY!"

"Busy-body." She sarcastically replied.

"Sheesh."

"I fail to see the logic."

"It's but a damned lame pun! Ignore it, Acid!"

"Acknowledge."

"So. Computer. You can bite?"

"I thought it'd been proven clear enough some weeks ago."

"Hmpf. Guess that."

"You spoiled lil girl! Don't get in MY way!" Hyde threatened.

"And what if I do…? Will you come defy me…? So be it… I shall make experience eternal sleep… Beneath the Antarctic ice… As a fool who tried to stand up to the Icy Empress…"

"Oh hell. You've even picked your new title?" Akatsuki cursed.

"Indeed… Soon… I shall be the Icy Empress… And then… You shall become my nutrient… You should be feeling thankful to me."

"Shit."

The line went dead all of a sudden and Hyde began to curse and hiss under his breath.

"Anyway! Back to the earlier talk! You don't know anything else? How did you get the money?"

"Cash! Always two cases full of it…! I had it stored on several Taiwan accounts and banks to be safe…! But I won't tell you where!"

"It surely must be the money robbed off a Singapore bank 3 months ago."

"Good point, Ryuusuke. So we'd get nothing by trying to trace it back: and the suitcases were surely devoid of finger-prints. Any luck trying to find that manservant, that Zing fellow?"

"No luck insofar. Maybe it was a disguise and his name wasn't Zing to begin with…"

"Communication from Taiwan National Police! Zing exists and is the manservant of the millionaire the house belongs to. He was led to believe Night Baron was a business partner of the millionaire and never asked any questions. Night Baron always ate and slept outside of the house but he doesn't know where. He used a bike to move from place to place and the police did find it… at the bottom of a canyon, broken into pieces and burnt up…" A female Commando rushed in and reported.

"I see. And he surely changed somewhere in the 5 km road until the city: this way he'd be able to mingle with the crowds… Maybe he used some non-charted road or a pedestrian path to give the impression he came from a different direction altogether…" Akatsuki deduced.

"It's a very feasible theory."

"Good. We've got no more use for Hyde. Escort him to the prison. Make sure Cygnus Wing and Wolf Forest stand by to escort the van. Shinobi could try to assault it. But this time we're not going to be caught off-guard with the _bunshin_ ability."

"Roger."

"I'll have my revenge~!"

"Sure, sure. Script rascal."

"SUGRAWASHA~H!" He howled something undecipherable.

Two Commandos dragged him out of the room and Akatsuki came out in the corridor: Daigo, Amachi, Dr. Yoiri and the Chief were waiting there: he sighed and nodded sideways.

"No luck. Hyde knew nothing valuable. The culprit has been deceiving everyone from the start."

"What a…!" Daigo cursed.

"I know, sir, I know." Akatsuki sighed.

"Huff, huff… Daigo – san!"

"Huh? Ah! Heartless."

Heartless (wearing the same uniform as the WAXA Operators) rushed over there.

"I remembered! That Night Baron man… He once came to the hideout and said he had a message for Mr. King from "IQ", that is, from the "Ice Queen"! Mr. King turned white on the spot, Queen Tia raised an eyebrow, Jack frowned and Joker merely guided him in… He told all of us to disband, Joker included… But I left a wiretap behind to listen… I managed to find the file… That was right after the Mu Continent deal!" She explained.

"Oh! Maybe it'll be some hint!"

Heartless nodded and activated her Hunter – VG.

"… What does "IQ" want out of me?" King's voice questioned.

"Hmpf… You're amusing, Mr. King… Cha and cha game with the red comet toy… So IQ – sama says that they won't interfere. But if you poke your nose where you're not asked to… You'll become a corpse."

"You lowlife…! Threatening me…! I can have…!"

"Hmpf… No need to continue… You can have your precious Joker blow me up in one blow. I know the guy's a Wizard… But then IQ – sama would blow you up instead… Remember this, King… You've been warned… There'll be no second warning… Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh… Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah! Hyah, hah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h!"

"Devil. This man seems capable of killing and laughing at it, even!"

"Another reason to hurry up and try to find his trail!" Akatsuki growled.

"Where in the world are they?" Amachi hissed.

"We need a hint! Anything will do! But soon! Or else…! Damn it all!"

10:22 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Who goes there?"

"Calm down. It's me, Burai."

"Omega, huh… So?"

"Nothing. The place I thought of was empty and dusty. It must be some place we didn't know about… I'm trying to look at register to see if any new odd building got built as of late…"

"Fine. That's not a bad idea either. I poked around the Dealer hideout and found that someone had turned the Crimson Factory back on. The Mu Device wasn't there anymore, though."

"Shit. That explains how the rascal got his hands on it."

Burai had been scouting a large, empty and largely unlit warehouse until he saw someone walk up to him: he drew the Laplace Blade but it turned out to be an ally so he lowered it.

"I know, Omega… I investigated the scene of yesterday but found nothing… If there was anything I guess it would've been found by the Satella Police by now…"

Omega happened to be a Wizard about a meter and eighty tall.

A blue jewel shaped like an inverted triangle was set on the forehead of his helmet which was emitting a cross-shaped flash.

His eyes' irises were blue and they displayed seriousness while long blond hair came out from behind him and reached until the floor.

He had a red vest over his mainly black body and red armor over his forearms and boots: two golden circlets were set around his forearms and on his boots as well.

"U~h…" A low-toned moan-like voice rang out.

"Who goes there?" Burai drew his blade.

"Show your hide."

Omega drew a gun with a light frame and having a sliding switch on the left side of its frame: the muzzle looked bigger than that of a usual gun as well.

"U~h…!"

Some soft sounds rang out but the wideness of the space and its poor lighting made it hard to guess where they came from: Omega formed a flash-bang grenade and threw it at the ground towards his NW: the flash stunned a figure and it collapsed into the ground only to rise back with some effort.

"What the fuck is this thing?"

"Dunno! One thing's clear: that's not human!"

The owner of the voice turned out to be a human-like aberration that seemed to be based off a male body yet it lacked body hair, organs or a recognizable face.

Its skin had turned into a mix of dull gray and pink: instead of hands it had some deformed limbs with spear-like formations protruding out of them.

The feet lacked fingers and they had some of those formations protruding out of them too.

The most disgusting part was the head: it had no hair, no visible ears or eyes: the teeth had turned into fang-like teeth and only the upper row existed: the mouth seemed to be wider than usual and lacked lips as well.

Its movements were slow and erratic as if it lacked a sense of orientation and balance.

"U~h…" More voices rang out.

"Shit. We're surrounded?" Burai realized.

"They're Denpa Bodies."

"Ah. So it's the culprit's handiwork."

"Yeah. The invisible attackers surely were Denpa Bodies as well."

"So? What do we do?"

"Isn't it obvious? Dispose of them. They surely have no valuable data to begin with. The culprit could've been monitoring my movements and summoned them here." Omega calmly replied.

"Fine."

"Eat plasma!"

Omega shot a round of plasma that hit the enemy and it immediately got deleted: some more of them began to come: Burai glanced at Omega, he nodded, and he jumped into the air as Burai swept the area with one swift motion of the Laplace Blade.

"Who wants more?"

More and more of them began to rush there: one gripped Burai and suddenly opened the mouth to take out an elongated extension with a circular mouth filled with teeth: Burai cut its waist in half and it collapsed on the ground: Burai then landed down a blow that split its head in half and it got deleted.

"Beej. They're gross!" He complained.

"I don't wanna know what the hell they are. I'll destroy each and every one of them!"

"Well said!"

"What's going on, Omega?" A voice asked over his radio.

"Boss? Huff. Burai and I are being assaulted by some aberrations the culprit got out of God knows where. See."

"By all the… What freaks!"

"I know, Vadous…! Any ideas to end this quickly?"

"Hmmm… Try the portable "Copy Canceller"… Maybe they're using the means King used to produce the War Rock copies…"

"It's worth a shot."

"Alright."

Omega lifted his left hand and formed a reddish spheroid of energy: he tossed it at the ground and a greenish shockwave ensued: it wiped out all of the enemies inside of the space while also revealing that the walls were painted with large red stains as if they were blood: the ground also was and the columns also were.

"What bad decorating taste." Omega grumbled.

"Truly." Burai fumed.

"U~h…"

"What? Is there no end to them or what?"

"Shit."

More of them showed up: there was a nearby explosion as a part of the wall got blown up: Blood Shadow and Sigma rushed in and began to shoot at the enemies.

"Did Boss send you here?"

"Huh? Sir Omega! We got a mail that looked like it'd been sent by Subaru – kun on a rush telling us he was here…" Blood Shadow reported.

"But it was checked by Akatsuki first, too, sir!" Sigma added.

"Sadly enough… I'm afraid you got fooled." Omega sighed.

"Shit. Excuse me, sir, but…!"

"Like I care. Go all out!"

"COME AT FULL POWER!"

"Let's go!"

The fighting resumed: Blood Shadow used his "Copy Canceller" and performed another sweep: they then spotted a purplish "portal" floating high in the air and that dropped the enemies into the building.

"There!"

However, a Break Count Bomb dropped from the "portal" before it closed so they rushed out as the bomb went off in a ball-shaped explosion that took out the steel beams and caused for the roof to collapse into the building: the group cursed under their breaths.

"The culprit was intending to take all of us out in one blow?" Burai guessed.

"Nah… It's a sweep. To prevent us from figuring out anything… He knew that we'd have time to escape… It's not the usual bastard. Unfortunately enough… From the lowlife's talk… It's gotta be some fanatical leftover of Anaya's madness." Vadous replied over the radio.

"Madness indeed! Seeking to kill Rock Man to plunge the world into a depression and sell off mass placebo anti-depressive drugs…!"

"It turns out that was a lie that I fell for! She really intended what this rascal must be doing: to kidnap him and torture him with that sickening S&M stuff!" Vadous growled.

"By all the…! It's gotta be Hell compared to those 2 defectives…!"

"Sure is! I was a witness to it! And it's one of my sins! Taking TOO long to realize…!" Vadous icily hissed.

"Let's discuss that later, Boss…" Omega sighed.

"I know! Huff! You 3! Return to the HQ: let's go over the battle data and try to figure out anything we might've not noticed."

"OK!"

"Burai… Do as you like."

"Hmpf… I knew that… I'll go threaten more lowlifes… Maybe one of them knows something… Later…"

A smaller "portal" opened and the 3 warriors rushed in while Burai fumed: Laplace returned to his normal form and hovered next to him: Burai rushed away followed by Laplace.

_By all the… What a madwoman! Rot in that jail forever, you damned fool!_

12:55 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Did we figure out anything yet? Boss?"

"No. Not yet. Akatsuki told me that the Commandos are interrogating some of the underground bosses…"

"Fine. Let's see if we get somewhere."

Omega had come to a room somewhere to talk with Vadous.

This room's floor was a narrow steel corridor wide enough for one person to stand which was shaped like two trapezes connecting each other by a line: the ground was lowered and covered in a grid – like metal on the spaces between each trapeze and to left and right of the corridor: another room could be seen expanding downwards below this one through the metallic grid's openings.

There was a small circle which marked the start of a rail crossing across the room until the other end: he followed it with his sight and ended up spotting a black metallic armchair with the Alphabet letter "V" painted behind it on purple color placed at the end of the rail.

The other end of the room contained a console which was filled with several LEDs, indicators, switches, levers and buttons plus a built-in keyboard and mouse pad.

Three gigantic and interconnected LCD screens had been affixed to the wall to be above it.

The room's walls had several metallic stripes built into it which contained round LED lights: the centermost point of the room had a hatch built into the ceiling which was currently closed.

The room had a dome shape.

"Huff. And if that was but a teaser of what the culprit has in store for us then… We're in deep shit. Boss."

"I know."

"Grah! Who the hell are we dealing with?"

"I'd like to know that, too…!"

The chair turned and Vadous faced Omega.

Vadous was a man who looked like he was on his mid-twenties.

His eyes' irises were red and his hair was colored jet-black yet it was neatly combed and arranged: there wasn't the slightest trace of facial hair on him.

He wore body armor made of an unknown grayish compound material: some purple patterns were drawn around it.

He sported a ragged, torn and worn out purple cape attached to the back of his shoulders which spread all the way to the ground but had some centimeters' margin of space.

He lastly carried two elaborated sword sheaths attached to the thick central belt colored black running around his waist.

"This is Burai… I interrogated the security guards of the manor but none had ever seen the rascal come in or out… You guys' theory seems to gain a lot of weight…" Burai radioed to Omega.

"Thought as much… I don't think it's worth it to search in Taiwan: it must one huge red herring… I'm convinced our culprit is somewhere in Japan: we'll try looking at private islands or stand-alone places… Or underground hangers or bunkers…"

"Speaking of which… Did you try that bunker you were obliged to use back when "Operation: Independence"?"

"Heck. I'd forgotten about that. Then again it was Izono, Anaya's lapdog, the one who set the place up… Go check it out! I've got the coordinates here…" Vadous gasped.

"Somehow I feel like that'll be a dead end too…"

"It's worth a try. What are we gonna do with the Crimson Factory, anyway?"

"Set permanent watch over it, obviously enough!"

"Alright. I've reached the entrance. Hah!"

There was a sound which surely was Burai busting the door: he immediately cursed under his breath.

"More freaks?"

"No! War Rock copies. Sheesh. And my "Copy Canceller" is still reloading and needs a while."

"Lovely… I think Sigma's still loaded so I'll send the guy over there on the double…" Vadous fumed.

"Fine."

"Sigma. You heard that. Move it."

"Roger!"

"Eat this, rubbish!"

"COME AT FULL POWER!" Sigma roared.

"No need to be so loud either."

"R-roger, sir."

Sounds of fighting ensued: the main LCD screen switched on the display Sigma's POV as he smacked the War Rock copies: Burai could be seen slightly ahead of him swinging his blade around: a dry chuckle echoed inside of the bunker.

"Six billion cries of agony will birth a new balance. Unfortunately, it's too late for you. You will not live to see the dawn." A man's voice excitedly announced.

"W-what?" Both gasped.

"Hmpf… Poor deluded lot. How you so love your precious self-righteousness." The voice taunted.

"Don't tell me." Burai was unimpressed.

"Smug rascal…!"

"Self-righteous fools! Ignorant cretins!"

The two of them jumped down an elevator shaft and reached another floor where they ran down a corridor: they busted a door and entered a room having some tall capsules surrounded by condensed air as if indicating that the insides were frozen: they all had a control console placed to the north and to the right of them.

"Sheesh. This room is where Izono tried to play a psychological demoralizing strategy back during "Operation: Independence"… Fortunately he didn't realize what was going on and the "Committee" had to play to pretend they were pawns…"

"Maybe the freaks are built here?"

"Could be."

"Let's smash them."

They began to smash them and when they smashed the last one they found Subaru standing inside and leaning against a central column: he had half-ring restrains on his wrists and ankles.

He had no clothes on and a bullet wound could be spotted over the stomach area.

His face depicted suffering and it looked like he'd bitten his lower lip as well given a small trail of frozen blood sliding down his chin.

"W-what?" Both gasped.

"Wait! That's the trap: a dummy! They wanted to make the Satella Police believe we'd killed him!" Vadous growled.

"By all the fucking…!" Sigma hissed.

"I'm about to make mincemeat of…!"

"And let her get away without bearing the weight of the pain she inflicted to the victims?" Vadous pointed out.

"Ah! Good point. Huff. Whatever."

"So smash it if you want. I guess the Satella Police left it like that because they wanted to conduct further analyses…"

"Alright. Take this, you damned fake!"

Both smashed the dummy to pieces: their attacks made the fake skin peel off and reveal the plastic body beneath it: the dry chuckle rang out again and both growled.

"Don't you two ever tire of failing on your mission? You've really become quite an inconvenience for me." The voice grumbled.

"Don't tell us." They all drily replied.

"Well then, I'll just have to kill you quickly. I'll see you dead! The human race requires judgment! War and pestilence wherever humans go! Has it never occurred to you that this planet is over-populated? Only a handful of humans truly matter. Everyone else is just so much chaff. So now I have to separate this chaff from the wheat. And with the Absolute Power I can finally do this." The voice began to get amused, cocky and eager all of a sudden.

"By all the…" They all cursed next.

"You haven't changed. Are you trying to make me angry? Let's finish this!"

"Self-destruct program activated. This program cannot be cancelled."

"Fuck. Get us outta here!"

"Roger!"

Vadous warped them out of the place and into the mountain: alarms rang out followed by sequential explosions: smoke and fire began to ensue before it all shuddered and then became quiet.

"Fuck and fuck. We'll have to walk with lead feet!" Burai cursed.

"Who the hell is this psychopath?" Omega growled.

"I'd like to know as well…! I'll make mincemeat of them myself!"

_Show your damned hide, you bastard! I'll erase you from this world!_


	5. Chapter 5: Rampaging bulls

**Chapter 5: Rampaging bulls**

19:40 PM (Japan Time), Wednesday December the 5th…

"… So, Lartes…?"

"He's still sleeping. Let's hope we've got something solid by the time he wakes up… But what despair…! It's been almost 72 hours since Subaru got abducted and we found nothing… Nothing happened yesterday save that we found more freaks in another location…"

"I know! Shit. It's not private islands. So I guess it could be some refuge or base or some house's basement…"

"How are investigations over there like?"

"The Satella Police is looking up all suspicious house registers: we're seeing if any were bought, sold or rented in the last 4 months and the money was transferred in an odd manner."

A man came out of a room in a house somewhere and softly closed the door behind him before speaking with Omega, standing on what seemed to be a 1st floor's hall given how some stairs could be seen leading to the ground floor.

"I see."

Lartes, the man, had black slightly messy hair plus brownish irises' eyes.

He wore a medic's coat with the ID "Dr. Kazimura Lartes" written on it and sported brown pants plus shoes.

He had a pair of reading glasses on, too.

"Anything new on the Hyde front?"

"Shinobi tried to assault the transport van but got repelled. He'll surely attempt to strike at the very prison. Akatsuki said he'd placed one defender there to stall for time until he or we get there once the alert rings out…" Omega replied.

"Good. And Queen Tia…?"

"Huff. The gal seems to love to hijack Akatsuki's Hunter – VG every twice or thrice just to taunt and mock him. Insofar no abductions or reports of missing women have been filed so it'd seem she doesn't want to make a move yet to expand her "business", that is, the _yuri dominatrix_ club she's taken over." Omega growled.

"We'll have to find a way to put an end to that. We'll need to, firstly, remove the Hunter – VG from her reach. That way she'll be unable to perform "Denpa – Henkan" into Queen Virgo…"

"I know. It'd seem Akatsuki is planning something but won't share details: you never know when the gal might be eavesdropping."

"This is Blood Shadow. The location I had to investigate was a dead end as well and had nothing at all. Over."

"Here's Sigma… Che. My place turned out to be inhabited, yeah, but by a bunch of occupies… I chased them out… And notified the local police as well…" Sigma grumbled.

"Good work. Move to the next location."

"Roger!"

"YO! YO! YO! Found ya, Sigma…"

"Moon Disaster? Sheesh. Got no time for ya."

"Why? Is the meat gonna turn cold? The one in ya altar?" Moon Disaster laughed.

"What altar and what crap? We're struggling here to find Rock Man and the best you can do is say nonsense? OUTTA THE WAY!"

"YIKES!"

There was a sound and Sigma grumbled under his breath.

"This guy doesn't know anything or what?"

"I'm not sure." Omega admitted.

"Wouldn't surprise me…" Blood Shadow dully muttered.

"And what's the troublemaker up to?"

"Dropping at places at random and razing it all trying to find basements or secret rooms or whatever… Guess we'll have to lock the guy in the HQ's server for a while…" Lartes sighed.

He headed down the stairs and Omega followed him into a living room in the ground floor: the view from the windows showed a vast beach surrounding the small island plus an artificial track for a plane to land and to take off and that ended in a small hanger building: the skies were rather clouded as if to reflect their mood.

"I need some breakfast… Else I can't concentrate…"

"Fine. I'll call Akatsuki."

Omega headed out into the main foyer and opened one of the two doors to step outside: he sighed and sat next to a palm tree to lean his back against it: he crossed his arms and folded his legs too.

"So, Akatsuki?"

"No dice… The bunker was razed by the explosions: but I'm convinced that there was nothing there to begin with."

"Akatsuki? A new report on Queen Tia… She expelled 4 members of the club and they all looked pale and frightened… Guess no – one dares to oppose her…" A Commando told him close by.

"Thanks, Ninoude Chikara. Continue the surveillance. Else we'll get a second tragedy at the same time…!"

"I know. Later."

"What would Queen Tia gain from such illogical movements?" Acid asked Akatsuki.

"Ego!" He fumed.

"Yet, "ego" is not material." Acid noted.

"You don't know how much people can cling to non-material things too!"

"So it would seem."

"Don't you get annoyed from time to time? And don't you get amused from time to time?" Akatsuki pointed out.

"That is true."

"Well, here you have more non-material stuff."

"If you say so…"

"So. Did you see it coming, Holmes and Watson?" Queen Tia butted into the exchange.

"Not you again! Queen Tia!"

"Icy Empress." She dully countered.

"Anaya Maria is gonna sue you for copyright infringement!" He came up with that to seemingly provoke her.

"I don't see how she'll be able to. Being locked in the jail and all." She didn't fall for the attempt.

"And you seem eager to end up there too!" Omega added.

"You should stay out of this. Red Destruction God."

"Save me the deprecated titles!" He grumbled.

"Hmpf… Foolish feral…"

"Sheesh!"

"Does it feel good to drink up human blood?"

"Who the hell says that? I've never ever attacked a human! I only fight Wizards and Viruses! End of the tale!"

"Is that so? So the ancient chronicles were not right."

"What ancient chronicles? Don't come up with bullshit. Boss built me 5 years ago!"

"Ah yes? I was convinced you had been summoned from 6666 BCE."

"6666 BCE? Save me the doomsday bullshit, Queen Tia! You don't want to annoy me for real!"

"Ah? And what would you do then? Come act like a feral man and rob me of my pride?"

"Of course not! I'll come and blow up your Hunter – VG! And then Akatsuki there will bring you to a court!"

"Yeah. That's what I'm gonna do!" Akatsuki added.

"Fair enough. I would like to see you trying. Men. Always stirring up war and misery…" She icily muttered with a hint of anger.

She suddenly stopped jacking the line and both guys grumbled while Acid apparently remained silent.

"Akatsuki, a report from the prison… One of the anti-Denpa field generators has suddenly lowered its power by 20%... And that segment happens to be right in front of Hyde's cell…"

"Thanks, Seiken Ichizou. So Shinobi is about to strike. Luckily I placed someone there already." Akatsuki calmly muttered.

"I'll dispatch Blood as backup."

"Good idea. I'm going to get there right away too. Later."

"KYA~H! It's the Nameless Emperor's curse~! Akatsuki – kun!"

"By all the… Utagai – san! What now, Cygnus?" He fumed.

"War Rock left that recording of some weird name floating around."

"Sheesh. Someone keep an eye on the guy! I'm off to reinforcing prison security! Later!"

"War Rock…! Try to be productive instead of destructive, you lil lion rascal…! Anyway! Blood: do you copy?"

"I copy, sir!"

"Converge with Akatsuki on the prison! NOW!"

21:24 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Go, my _bunshin_!"

"_Kuu, kuu, kuu…_"

ZAPPP! BO~UM!

"Alert! Alert! Overload of Grid 7-E! Intruder detected! Lock all doors and corridors! Deploy Battle Wizards!"

"Useless! Hrah! Hah! Hryah!"

"Ugrah!"

"Ugoh!"

"Guwah!"

"Nobody stops the Alphabet Murderer!"

"YO! YO! YO! I'd say otherwise, _amigo_!"

"Not you again!"

Assassin Shinobi had crept near the inner wall of a prison compound (jumping over the outer wall) and formed a bunshin that he launched against an orange energy field divided in square grids: the square exploded and he rushed inside of the inner compound and towards the building in front of him: some Battle Wizards got deployed but he quickly sliced them up with his _katana_: Moon Disaster popped out next and Assassin Shinobi growled.

"YO! YO! YO! Moon Bazooka!"

Moon Disaster formed a ball-shaped mass of fire and threw it towards Assassin Shinobi while leaping into the air: he deflected it with the _katana_ but then Moon Disaster used his "Moon Spin" move: he spun upon his axis while moving left and shooting moon-shaped golden objects: one of them hit Assassin Shinobi and caused temporal "Confused" status on him: Moon Disaster grinned.

"_Loco de mi vida, la vida del loco, mi vida es loca, la loca anda suelta~_!"

"What the FUCK?" He growled.

"_Kuka-wakah?_" Assassin asked something.

"What? "Is this guy eatable?"… NO! DEFINETELY NOT!" He growled back out of annoyance.

"_Crazy my life, the crazy guy's life, my life's crazy, the crazy gal's loose~_!"

"That a SONG? It's PATHETIC." He got annoyed again.

"YO! YO! YO! It's my newest 3 hour-long _live_!"

"3 hour-long? I'll slice you up in 3 seconds!" He growled back.

"Moon Disaster! What's the status? I'll be there in 80 seconds!"

"YO! YO! YO! _Compadre_~! Don't worry! This guy's easy!"

"Easy? No way. Your songs are driving him crazy: else he'd already beaten you 10 times! And quit it with the "comrade" nickname, will ya!" Acid Ace fumed.

"Moon Bazooka!"

"Hah!"

Assassin Shinobi deflected it again and Moon Disaster frowned.

"Odd, fella… My attack has a "Break" function to it… This guy's Sword so it should be double damage…"

"Maybe he's got some barrier like Burai…" Acid Ace ventured.

"Maybe so, Detective Raiser!" He snickered.

"Oh come on."

"YO! YO! YO! _El pueblo del pueblo del pueblo del pueblo_!"

"What the hell is that?" Acid Ace grumbled.

"… "The village of the village of the village of the village."…" Acid replied.

"That a tongue-twister? Sheesh."

"Hrah! Feel the fear… En… A… Un… Sa… Do… Na… Ra…"

He crossed his arms in an "X" pattern while chanting some kind of spell: his body glowed and 3 copies of his form formed, surrounding Moon Disaster.

"YO! YO! YO! Moonsault Kick!"

Moon Disaster jumped high in the air and suddenly began to spin and attack while moving from left to right in front of Assassin Shinobi, who was unable to block the attack: he jumped again and dropped in the column Assassin Shinobi was at, kicking him and sending him flying 3 meters south: he growled and formed the copies again.

"You're asking for it!"

"For my autograph? YO! YO! YO!"

"What in the fucking…!"

"… You lowlifes can't see it…? How the whole of the Universe blesses the resurrection of the Queen!" Ganondorf's voice echoed.

"You lowlife!" Assassin Shinobi cursed.

"Copycat."

BLAM!

"Ugrah!"

"What?"

A sound rang out and both combatants stopped to see Blood Shadow standing atop a watch-tower and having shot at Night Baron: he growled and clutched his chest.

"I shot. But since you're but a Denpa Body proxy then I can do that. And you copied that from Apollon Flame when Rock Man met him again in the Noise Wave linking the "Outer Space Cosmo Wave" and the "FM Planet Cosmo Wave"… You just swapped "King" for "Queen"!"

"Shit… Walking encyclopedia~! I'll bury you in endless "Dark"!"

"Try it, ugly."

"… How all of nature's laws are pulsating towards your death!"

"Another thing you ripped off the guy."

"… Like I thought… Populace cannot properly witness the right to rule… Is it?"

"Will you stop being a copycat and face me?"

"Well then! Let us prove it here! Prove an unwavering and transcendental "victory"!"

Night Baron flew up into the sky and began to toss meteorites: Andromeda showed up and rushed for Blood Shadow but he leapt towards it and shoot a hook-shot built above his left hand: it stuck into the waist area and Blood Shadow reeled it to end inches away from the core, that had just turned vulnerable: he placed the shotgun's barrels on it and shot: both twin shots pierced through it and the recoil pushed Blood Shadow away yet he managed to swing around and shoot another attack from behind: Night Baron gasped as Andromeda hummed and collapsed into the ground along with him.

"Ugrah!"

"Mine!" Assassin Shinobi roared.

"Not so fast!"

CLANG!

"Shit! Akatsuki!"

"The same one. No – one is gonna be slaughtered as long as I'm around: and your copy trick won't work on me, ugly."

Acid Ace had managed to get there and drew his Long Sword to block Assassin Shinobi: they began to struggle in a deadlock while Night Baron tried to get away (he'd been trapped by the head of Andromeda collapsing atop him): Blood Shadow tossed away the top hat and gripped his head: his left hand began to glow with a greenish glow.

"Ugruwa~h!"

"I knew it. It's a Denpa Body, alright. But it doesn't own any coordinates and all of his words seem to be pre-programmed. There's no control signal either. Or maybe there was and it's been cut off remotely. The culprit doesn't need to be close by." He analyzed.

"I thought as much. Ignore that and try to seize Shinobi." Omega ordered with a shrug.

"Roger."

"Che! Things have gotten awry. I'll be back!"

He flipped two or three times backwards as a "portal" opened and he jumped inside of it to disappear.

"I guess he's going back to the behemoth. Let's ignore the guy: it's the lesser of two evils, anyway." Acid Ace sighed.

"MUGRO~H!"

"Shit! Take cover!"

Andromeda suddenly glowed with a reddish glow and blew up along with the Denpa Body in the shape of Night Baron: only a crater was left behind after the explosion.

"Buro~! Akatsuki – san, the bandit showed up in my home and stole my meat cake! I'm chasing the rascal!" Ox Fire reported.

"Shit. It's a trap! COME BACK, GONTA!"

KZZZZ!

"Fuck. Noise in the channel! The culprit! Acid, get me Ox Fire's latest know coordinates! Blood, come with me! On the double!"

"Roger! Damn it all!"

"Shit." Moon Disaster cursed, for once.

"You stay here and make sure the guy doesn't come again! Later!"

21:58 PM (Japan Time)…

"B-B-B-BURO~! Outta the way, Viruses! Ox Tackle! Make way for the Raid Troop!"

"Buro~! Cool it, Gonta! Akatsuki said it's a trap!"

"And whatever! I'll catch the guy AND get my meat cake back!"

"Is that cake more important than your LIFE?"

"Huh? Now that you mention it…"

"Too late, Fatman!"

"Say again!"

Ox Fire had been rushing along a Wave Road somewhere and tackling Viruses out of his way while Ox tried to cool him down: he made a point that made him stop and wonder but then the culprit's voice rang out: the Wave Road on his feet got deleted and he fell inside of a forest clearing about 8 meters wide: some silhouettes began to creep in from inside of the forest.

"W-what? What are those?"

"More freaks? Buro~! Watch out with ya attacks! Ya don't wanna start a forest fire!"

"Shit. This is why the guy dropped me here! To seal my attacks! I'll have to lower their spread!" Ox Fire gasped as he realized the trap the culprit had set up.

"Too late, Fatman! Die!"

The silhouettes came into light: they looked similar to the freaks of the other day but the main difference was in the arms: they were long, claw-like arms.

Those were folded like razor blades.

The head had some circling bands of flesh around them but the mouth remained the same.

"Ox Tackle!"

He rushed forward and tackled 3 of them towards a tree, deleting them in the process: one of those got close enough to attack by extending the arms and hitting Ox Fire with force yet his Super Armor ability impeded him from being stunned after an attack.

"Anger Rush!"

His body glowed for some seconds and he began to quickly move around the clearing while punching the ground: wherever he punched a column or two of spiraling flames ensued: they sucked some of the freaks in and contributed to deleting them.

"By all the…" The culprit cursed.

"Hah! Don't look down on a Raid Troop member!"

"Gonta! You alright?" Acid Ace landed next to him.

"Akatsuki – san! I…!"

"Later! Let's bust these!"

"Roger!"

"So! About to be promoted, Akatsuki~?"

"Who knows? About to be demoted, leftover?"

"LEFTOVER! ME! DIE!"

"Hit a vibe, eh? Reality distortion field, I guess."

"SHAGRAHA~H!" He growled something undecipherable.

"What's that, Colorado dialect?" He taunted next.

"You're the Colorado!"

"Charmed."

"Sheesh."

"Found you."

BLAM!

"Ugrah! Not again! These aren't use-n-throw pawns!"

"Like I'd know."

Blood Shadow found the Denpa Body imitating the culprit close by and shot at him so he growled.

"Where's Subaru – kun?"

"In your imagination, Brad Shad! De buku!"

"Don't imitate Cancer Bubble. Answer me."

"Go ahead, blow me up…"

"Like I'm gonna fall for that. Here: eat this!"

"Ugro~h!"

"Hmmm… There's a live signal… Heavy encoding… Can't you lend me a hand, Akatsuki – san?"

"Hmmm… Guess so."

"Go. I'll handle the rubbish."

"Ah! Burai. Good timing."

"The rascal burst into my refuge and sprayed the walls."

Burai showed up and began to slice and cut the freaks while explaining why he'd come: Acid Ace rushed to where Blood Shadow was trying to restrain the Denpa Body: he also used his left hand to grip the head and began analyzing.

"Heavy encoding… Acid! Take a sample! We obviously won't have time to fully analyze it but it could be a powerful clue."

"Dream on! My _business partners_ will show Hell to you!"

"So you've got some accomplices, huh? We'll smash them all!"

"Don't get cocky, Gonta! Buro~!"

"I go off with a bang! BANG!"

"Watch out!"

They all jumped away as this Denpa Body got blown up as well: the freaks got deleted as well and the place became quiet again: the invisible enemies suddenly jumped into the fray and things got chaotic again.

"Grah! Charged shotgun… shot!"

"Omega Laser!"

"Buro~! Anger Punch!"

"Sheesh! Laplace Blade!"

"The total amount we extracted of code was… 15.7%."

"Later, Acid!"

"Acknowledged."

They resumed the fighting: they began to battle their way out of the forest and into a paved small road crossing through some fields: they panted, being out of breath and looked around: the enemies were being relentless and coming out from everywhere in the forest.

"Copy Canceller: on!"

Burai used his "Copy Canceller" and wiped them off: the forest stirred and War Rock copies flew out from its insides next: they all resumed fighting this new wave.

"Shit. Is there no end?"

"The culprit must be trying to erase some evidence or another and needs time for that." Acid suggested.

"Say that earlier, man! Wing Blade!"

"Ground Break Sword!"

Burai jumped into the air and hit the floor with the blade, producing a one-directional shockwave that tore across a row of copies, splitting them.

"Here we are… Ah! There!"

"Fuck."

It turned out that Ganondorf in person (wearing the Night Baron's dress but without the cape, the top hat or the mask) had come out and was using a mysterious cube to absorb what seemed to be remaining program bits of the Denpa Body.

"Photo!"

FLASH!

"Uack!"

"Gotcha, ugly! Gimme that!"

"Like Hell! Go, Jack Corvus! Make mincemeat of this guy!"

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh! Acid – chan's WEAK! SLASH!"

"Ugrah!"

Acid Ace used a built-in flash to momentarily blind Ganondorf and took a photo of him: he tackled him and tried to yank the cube out of his hands: Ganondorf cursed and Jack Corvus suddenly appeared there, using his wings' sharp edge to slash Acid Ace's back: he groaned but managed to yank off the cube: he tossed it to Ox Fire, who'd rushed in: Jack Corvus rushed towards him but Burai dropped from atop a tree and split it in half: Jack Corvus blew up and Ganondorf ran for it, dropping down into a well: there was a sound and all became quiet.

"Hum… There's nothing inside… Guess he had some device to recall the portal inside of the well and he jumped straight in… Let's place a jammer on the cube so that it can't receive any signals and calmly analyze it within the HQ." Acid Ace deduced as he looked into the well.

"Something tells me that wasn't the bastard's real face." Burai muttered.

"Wouldn't surprise me… But we've gained an important clue… so I hope."

_Hang on, Subaru! We may be close to solving this… Please! Hang on!_


	6. Chapter 6: Deepening anguish

**Chapter 6: Deepening anguish**

08:58 AM (Japan Time), Friday December the 7th…

"… Ugh… Gruh… Uh… Ah…! Unh…!"

"Enjoying the feelin', Hoshikawa? It's been 3 hours already!"

"S-shit…!"

"Gotta admit that of Wednesday evening was TOO close but… Huff! I made it out, as always."

"S-shit…! If only… they'd caught you there…!"

"Fate is being cruel to ya~… Blame the Triforce of Courage!"

"Quit with the bullshit…!"

"Horse – sama will make sure to teach ya how to behave!"

"S-shit…!"

"Heh, heh, heh… I'm a genius!"

"Like Hell!"

"No grunt would've been able to drive the Satella Police to such tight spots, anyway!"

"Grah! Gruh…!"

Subaru was moaning, groaning and cursing as he was forced to sit atop triangular wood horse that had two thick dot-filled vibrators that were spinning clockwise and anti-clockwise and drilling his ass.

His ankles were cuffed to the sides of the horse the upper edge of which was made of metal and was digging into Subaru's balls from beneath: his balls had about 10 clothes pegs clipped to them.

His cock's base had a small leather collar of adjustable thickness gripping it hard: another ring had been placed atop it and it had four leather stripes connecting to a bottle-shaped vibrator that extended a thin rod filled with dots that was spinning and brushing against the walls of Subaru's urethra.

Subaru had a blindfold on and couldn't see anything but he could still talk while trying to suppress the groans and moans.

Ganondorf was sitting in a red leather armchair about a couple of meters in front of him: he'd taken off his upper clothes and left his upper body exposed yet he'd put something over it.

That something was a metallic ring right above the navel: four black leather bands of adjustable length spread from there and circled the body around the waist and over the shoulders.

"These symbolize that I'm the master! And you're the slave. Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh… I've been trying several poses with you… And "denial play"… Denying you release… And having you swallow your pride and beg of me to let you cum… Heh, heh, heh."

"Y-you bastard…! Leftover!"

"What did I say about that word?"

He stood up, picked a leather whip, and swung it to whip his chest (Subaru's nipples still had the metallic cups clipped there): Subaru groaned from the sensation but Ganondorf moved to his back and hit his arms and his lower back as well followed by his legs: Subaru groaned, hissed and tried to repress the exhales.

"Dare to say it again?"

"Oh yeah! Leftover! Leftover! Leftover!"

"Grrr…!"

He lifted the right arm as if to strike again but suddenly fumed and lowered it while grumbling.

"Che. If I go overboard then it might cause some heart stress or something like that, even…! If something bad were to happen…! IQ – sama would have my neck!" He grumbled.

_Lucky me…! _Subaru thought with some irony.

"Whatever. Struggle on for a while."

He sat back on the armchair and resumed watching as Subaru tried to climb up but the gel on the vibrators made him slide back into them: he groaned and moaned as the vibrations continued: his cock was starting to bulge as well.

"Well? Going to beg?" Ganondorf taunted.

"Like Hell!"

"Fine. Have it your way… Heh, heh, heh."

"Gruh! They'll find you! Sooner or later!" Subaru exclaimed.

"Heh, heh, heh. I wonder 'bout that."

"No freaks will be able to defeat… our unity!"

"It's a matter of time! Heh, heh, heh." He got cocky.

"I'll endure… as many days… as needed! I'll see you defeated!"

"I wonder 'bout that, too… Heh, heh, heh. Miloch's "Demon Trap" would say otherwise."

"What the hell is that?"

"Dunno. Ask someone and no – one."

"How funny!" He complained.

"Ain't it? I'm a genius with capital G! Herr Genius! Herr Genie! _Monsieur_ Gènie! _Signore_ Genio! Comrade Geniy!" He began to list.

"YO! YO! YO! _El genio beningo maligno repeligno no pudo con el no genio no beningo no maligno no repeligno_! The blessed, evil and repulsive genius couldn't beat the non-blessed, non-evil and non-repulsive non-genius!" Another of Moon Disaster's idiotic rhymes rang out.

"You're so CRAPPY at these…! Hence "Disaster"…!" Subaru groaned.

"Guess that. The guy must be silly that he doesn't know what "disaster" means to begin with. Hence why Warus Rockus – samus swapped 'em 'round and 'bound the 'hound."

"That rhyme's lame too! Ganondorf!"

"My bad, Link!"

"Link? To what?" Subaru grumbled.

"Dunno. Ask Miyamato and Aonuma."

"And where do I find them, huh?" He challenged.

"In Kyoto, but of course. In their company's HQ. The Big N!"

"Big N? Why do I feel like you've made it up?"

"Check it out with Brad Shad…"

"Che! Stop calling Blood like that."

"Heh, heh! He sure lives up to his name! Working in the shadow of your exploits! Doesn't the guy?"

"You moron…! "Shadow" means that it's my "shadow" version, my opposite, another me…!" Subaru fumed.

"Heh, heh, heh. Bravo, Hastings."

"Grrr…! I'll make sure you end up locked behind bars! Along with your smug boss!"

"IQ – sama! Speaking of which… That Queen Tia gal! How dare she usurp the title and corrupt it! What "Icy Empress"! It's but a spin-off! I better teach her a lesson: IQ – sama wouldn't let her go just like that! I'll send my army of Farfarello for them! If the Ooze and Pincers failed, then the Farfarello will drive the gal to a tight spot! And she won't tolerate anyone's help so… Heh, heh, heh!" He suddenly seemed to remember as he stood up and quickly paced around the armchair while grumbling: he then got amused.

"Crap…!" Subaru muttered.

"Why care? That gal's your worst nightmare, ain't it?"

"B-but that'll only fuel her cruelty…! That's not what we want!"

"Heh! Meek lot."

"Ah! But if you do that… She'll get offended at you… And will search Earth and Hell to find you as well!" Subaru pointed out.

"So what. Let her come! I'll have her be fed to the hyenas! That's the price to pay for defying IQ – sama! Mwah, hah, hah, hah!"

_Shit. The "Farfaerello" gotta be the invisible freaks… How many of them does he have in store? Or does he spawn them forever? This guy is way different from the others…! And if this guy is this cruel at torturing people I don't dare to image how much crueler Anaya Maria was!_

"YO! YO! YO! Another shooting shot of shots! _Manden un mandado! Le mandaré mandar! Que le manden un mandado_! Envoy an envoy! I'll command ya to command! Envoy 'im an envoy!"

_It's gotta be some lame double-meaning pun! I'm sure "mandado" must mean both "command" and "envoy"! Moon Disaster: where the hell do you get your ideas from? Some Mexican radio-amateur? The last thing we needed! Truly!_ Subaru inwardly grumbled.

"And now I say… Bingo the bingo and the bingo the bingo!"

_Shut up already, Moon Disaster! I'm fed up with you! Boss should lock you up on the server for a couple of months!_

"YO! YO! YO! It's the Thunder Piece!"

"What did you say? Come here, you lowlife! Insulting my pride…! I'll have you pay for that sin!" Burai's angered voice rang out.

_OH! COME ON! You split "Burai" into "Bu" and "Rai" and swapped them to form "Raibu" which is read as "thunder-piece"! You got it coming for saying that in front of Burai… Sheesh. What a mess you've started up! As usual! Sheesh!_

"KYA~H! RUN FOR YOUR SINGLES!"

"I'M GOING TO GRIND YOU LOWLIFE INTO DUST!"

_Someone save my sanity…! This guy will beat my sanity before my body…!_

09:19 AM (Japan Time)…

"… So?"

"Y-yes, ma'am! Insofar… We have 11."

"13 would be interesting… and fitting. You have 48 hours. No more no less starting… NOW."

"On the double, ma'am!"

"Hum. Fear is a good tool to keep idiotic women in place…"

Queen Tia (wearing her usual outfit) had been sitting in a chair behind a desk placed in a small office-like room that had a window to the right, a door ahead of the desk and a simple lamp that only illuminated the desk, making the effect that most of her figure was hidden in the blackness (the window's shutters had been lowered too).

The desk had her Hunter – VG atop it, a notebook with some writing, a couple pencils, a statuette of "Queen Virgo", her "Denpa – Henkan" form, and nothing else.

She was sitting in a black leather armchair and, set on the other end of the desk, there was a simple wooden chair.

A woman on her late teens or early 20s having tinted azure hair, a couple of piercings with skulls on her ears, purple mascara around the eyes and sunglasses had been sitting there but she stood up when Queen Tia gave her an order.

The woman wore a long-sleeved plain black shirt, an open bluish coat, jeans and tall brown leather boots.

She rushed off the office while Queen Tia merely leant back on the armchair and calmly crossed her fingers: her face was impenetrable and displayed no emotion whatsoever.

"Yet… I'm surprised there's been no reaction from Anaya's leftovers: maybe they're mistaking me for her, even. Whatever. It's useful to keep their hands tied."

SLAM!

"Ugre~h!"

"So you've finally come. About time. I was bored to death."

The door was slammed open and a weird creature ran inside.

The creature had no resemblance to a human and it looked like a cross between a gorilla o chimpanzee and some amphibian: it had greenish-bluish scales over the skin.

Its eyes were red and it had a wide mouth with few teeth.

Some small curved spears popped out of its back around the head.

It had three claws on both hands and into both feet.

"Denpa – Henkan. Queen Tia, On Air." She dully muttered as she held the Hunter – VG up.

A flash ensued and she transformed into Queen Virgo to suddenly warp and reappear atop a Wave Road hovering over a small square non-descript concrete building 1 floor tall and set in a corner of a large block of houses: the creature appeared there too and turned invisible.

"So this is the identity of those invisible creatures…" She calmly muttered without being too surprised.

More of them popped out but she merely hovered upwards and then slowly descended while forming 4 columns of light around her.

"Light of Saint."

The quickly spinning columns of light knocked away or deleted all of the creatures that assaulted her: the ones that hit the floor recovered and wall-climbed into the roof to then jump back into the Wave Road: Queen Virgo was unfazed.

"God Rain."

She raised her staff and some rain fell around her, momentarily stunning the enemies: some of them backed and readied for another attack.

"How stubborn, you lot… Aqua Wave."

She formed a water barrier around her that repelled some attackers and then she shot a wave of water in a straight line that knocked off another group of attackers: she then glanced at the west and formed a "Crawbas" Virus (the one that yielded the Jet Attack 3 Battle Card) which she shot there: it hit something, a groan ensued and she then jumped towards there, landing there.

"Hah!"

She attacked with her staff and shattered the optical camouflage of another Denpa Body in the shape of Night Baron.

"I got found out… Whatever! I'll bury you for defying and sullying the grand name of IQ – sama~!" The Denpa Body roared.

"On the contrary. I shall bury you. Under the tundra." She icily replied without beating an eyelash.

"Sheesh! Stubborn woman…! Be destroyed!"

"You be destroyed, stubborn leftover."

"I AIN'T A LEFTOVER!"

"Hmpf… Deluded fools with illusions of grandness…"

"Talk about you lowlife!"

"Me? I have no illusions. I merely plan. And steadily execute the stages of my plan… It is about time a new generation rises up to replace the old generation…" She merely replied.

"You damned conspirer… Go, my pets!"

The attackers resumed their attack as the Denpa Body flew away: Queen Virgo shrugged her shoulders and spun her staff.

"Hydro Dragon."

A dragon made of water formed and rushed forward, trapping all opponents on its wake inside of bubbles.

"Plasma Gun X."

The attack inflicted double damage to the trapped enemies and most were deleted: the Hydro Dragon then jumped into the air and dove for Night Baron who didn't see it coming because it was busy trying to coordinate the attackers: it got trapped and Queen Virgo momentarily had her staff hover in the air as she drew the Thunderbolt Blade.

"Thunderbolt Blade."

She swiftly swung the blade left and right and right and left before hitting the floor with it and making a thunderbolt fall down on the Night Baron: it growled and fell on its knees: Queen Tia plunged the staff through it: the Denpa Body growled and began to glow before exploding: the attackers gasped and ran off, disorganized and without orders: Queen Virgo shrugged and warped back into the office.

"Release."

She released the transformation and calmly sat down on the armchair as if nothing had happened at all: she opened a page of the notebook and looked at a list.

"Let's see… Hmmm… Last month we had 44 visitors and we earned 220, 000 Z in profits… 10% was spent in the rent tax, 5% in water, 5% in gas and 5% in electricity… And 30% on everyone's salaries, including mine… Plus 10% in food and other products… So 35% of it, 77,000, is benefit for us… Maybe we should increase the fare from 5,000 per hour to 6,000 per hour… If we did that then… We'd earn 264,000 Z… And its 35% would then be… 92, 400… Not bad. We could do that. We'll have to compensate for another two slaves so…" She read aloud.

She closed the notebook and picked the Hunter – VG.

"Megura."

"Y-yes, ma'am?"

"Increase the rate. 6000 per hour. Too expensive for them? Go somewhere else: but you won't find this quality elsewhere."

"Acknowledge, ma'am! Immediately!"

"You have 2 hours. No more no less."

"R-roger, ma'am!"

Queen Tia cut the communication and merely shrugged: she looked out at the grayish clouds creeping in.

"There'll be snow one of these days, I guess."

"AIE~H!"

"What was that?"

She looked out from the window and spotted a Noised Wizard chasing after a suspicious-looking man: they soon got out of sight.

"UWA~H!"

"Ah. Double-front trick… But I thought of that too."

Another man got chased away by a Heel Wizard that was brandishing the electrical whip.

"What should we do, ma'am?" Megura called out from the street.

"Ignore those. It set the fear on them. They shall not come back. Spread a rumor: all men who poke their noses here get beheaded." She dully commanded.

"R-roger, ma'am… Yikes." Megura seemed to shudder.

"Indeed… Fear is good to keep fools in line… The fear of cold, inevitable death… Hmpf…"

She leant backwards on the chair and closed her eyes as she seemingly began to meditate.

_So that's how it is. The leftovers try to appeal as imposing but they are weak and only rely on classical tactics… Old-fashioned, easily read through, decaying tactics… Hmpf… Sooner or later… I shall make them sink into endless agony and suffering… Be gone, foolish interlopers…_

18:18 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Shit. Hard to believe it's been almost 5 days and we've gotten nowhere at all… Our culprit is no usual rascal!"

"We knew that, Kiboyama – kun… Sheesh. From the looks of things it'd seem they haven't made much progress at WAXA either with the cube or the data sample… Else they'd be expectant…"

"Or maybe it's a tactic to trick the enemy? "To fool the enemy first fool the ally"?"

"Good point. Huh? Is that…?"

"What's wrong?"

Kiboyama and Tsukasa were walking along Kodama Town and near the school (they both had the school uniform on): they'd been discussing the state of things until Tsukasa gasped.

"Quick! Hide!"

"Eh? What?"

"Chut!"

Tsukasa dragged Kiboyama with him and hid behind some bushes to spy on the school entrance: someone identical to Tsukasa but wearing his usual street clothes and sunglasses came out while pocketing his hands on both pockets and whistling.

"Eh? Another Tsukasa – kun? What does this mean?"

"Hikaru! It's Hikaru!" Tsukasa whispered back.

"But hadn't he and Kuroban Howsad gone missing time ago…?"

"Maybe they're involved. They could be the "business partners" the culprit mentioned…!"

"What do we do?"

"Let's try to follow Hikaru…! Maybe he's just gathering info on us…"

"But if he can Denpa – Henkan?"

"Good point. Hmmm… Oh well. Let's warn Gonta – kun. He can also perform "Denpa – Henkan", too. Flame ain't weak to Elec, anyway, so there's no fear of elemental weakness."

"Roger."

Both quickly rushed towards Gonta's house as Hikaru headed up the stairs towards the observation point: Tsukasa knocked on Gonta's house and he opened the door.

"What's up, Tsukasa?"

"Chut! Come with us. We need your power!"

"Oh!"

"Chut! Lower the voice… There's a suspicious guy… He may be able to transform… That's why we need you to help us out if the guy comes and attacks us…! Gotcha?" Tsukasa whispered.

"Gotcha! Count on us! Right, Ox?"

"Buro~… Oh yeah! Leave it to the great me."

"What about you guys' Wizards, though?"

"They're Virus Busting." Kiboyama shrugged.

"OK. Let's go."

"Don't transform yet. Only if the situation calls for it."

"OK!"

"Let's go!"

The group of 3 rushed towards there and hid in the bushes near the observation platform: Hikaru could be seen talking with Night Baron in a hushed tone.

"…_aibou_'s expecting results and ya know the guy's short in patience when it comes to guys like ya…" Hikaru was telling him.

"Sheesh. Why did I get into this mess, anyway?"

"Mess? Were it not for _aibou_ you wouldn't have that place."

"I know!"

"It's not the submarine behemoth… I'm sure Shinobi is there." Kiboyama muttered.

"Fine. Remember your place. And that Hoshikawa must end up in one piece… No bones broken… _Aibou_ must have his rematch with the guy in a full power battle…"

"Full power battle? With the guy's mind filled with hatred? I think the guy's strategy isn't that efficient."

"If _aibou_ says it's gotta be like that then ya gotta do it like that: else ya get beheaded, know it!"

"I'm surprised Kuroban is letting Hikaru call him like that."

"Hikaru's never been the type to listen to anyone's orders. Kuroban surely realized that and decided it'd be better to keep him as a partner in crime rather than a pawn." Tsukasa whispered.

"I see…" Gonta distractedly muttered.

"Buro~… Ya weren't paying attention again, were you?" Ox scolded.

"Chut!" Both scolded.

"…use proxy and…" Night Baron was arguing.

"Speak for your smug mistress!"

"IQ – sama, damn it all!"

"Do whatever you want with your mistress. If ya want to rescue her go ahead: _aibou_ doesn't give a crap. As long as the guy is in one piece in body and mind… Make sure to fuel his hatred towards _aibou_… And that applies to your smug mistress too…" Hikaru continued.

"IQ – sama, I say!" Night Baron growled back.

"Yeah. Force me to say it, ugly."

"Nya~h!"

"Guess they'll eventually fight each other." Tsukasa guessed.

"Guess that."

"By the way! Will the money supplier continue to forward it when it's needed?" Night Baron questioned.

"No need to worry. They know their life is as stake. They can't do anything else. And their position impedes 'em from callin' the cops." Hikaru shrugged his shoulders.

"Fine. Let's meet somewhere else next time. This place is often visited and someone could see us!"

"Let 'em see us: it creates further excitement, man!"

"Sheesh. I'm off!"

Night Baron jumped over the handrail and rushed downhill while Hikaru shrugged: Tsukasa quickly rushed out and closed his right arm around the neck while gripping Hikaru's right wrist: he didn't react to either of those and remained silent.

"Buro~! Oi! Tsukasa! That a Denpa Body!"

"Sheesh. So it was all a setup to make us believe Kuroban and Hikaru were involved… But no! It was a setup… To fool us!"

"Heh, heh, heh… I'll commend you yet, Futaba! Did you enjoy the year and half "adoption"?" Night Baron laughed as he hovered in the air over them with his cape fluttering in the wind.

"You sickening bastard…! Come down here and fight me…!" Tsukasa hissed, his voice exhaling unleashed hatred.

"Heh, heh, heh. Remember that ya should be grateful to Hikaru there: else ya wouldn't be in one piece nowadays! And thankful to Kuroban for bothering to take the guy outta ya head and give 'im a body!"

"Huh? I didn't get - ANYTHIN'." Gonta muttered.

"Buro~! I didn't either. Too complicated for me."

"You bastard…! I'll make you swallow those words!"

"Yeah… Go on, deepen on the hatred… Let the beckoning call of the Dark Side of the Force summon you… Eventually… You will become a good Sith neophyte… And eventually… After killing your master and proving your potential… A Sith Lord! Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah!"

"Cool it, Tsukasa – kun! I know it's not an easy thing to say but if you ride into that tune…!" Kiboyama came out and tried to cool Tsukasa before he did something.

"You STOLE ONE YEAR AND A HALF of my LIFE!"

"I only sold ya to the biggest bidder! Blame the cops and Vadous for taking so long to start searching for ya!"

"Shut up! You're the root of it all!"

"The Choina guys wanted merchandise, I provided it! Heh!"

"HUMANS AREN'T MERCHANDISE, YOU SICKENING BASTARD!"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah… Good, good! Let me taste your anger! It'll do well to feed my Dark Chips!"

"What the hell? Dark Chips? What are those?" Kiboyama gasped.

"Dunno. Ask Omega. If he's in the mood to tell ya, that is. Heh!"

"I'm going to unleash the whole of my anger on you lowlife~!"

"Sadly enough… I'm busy today. _Adios, amigos_!"

The Denpa Body self-destructed and Hikaru's ones self-deleted: Tsukasa collapsed on his fours, panting, and Kiboyama tried to relieve him.

"My life…! My life…! You stole my life…! You bastard…!"

_Oh heck. Now the enemy plans to use our traumas to weaken our resolve and make us fall into a trap…? This is BAD! What do we do…?_


	7. Chapter 7: Countless trails

**Chapter 7: Countless trails**

09:29 AM (Japan Time), Saturday December the 8th…

"… Shit. It's already Saturday!"

"Calm down, Shidou."

"Easy for ya to say!"

"Now, now… Shidou – chan. We're all stressed but yelling and such will do us no good."

"I knew that, hakase, but…!"

"We mustn't despair."

Akatsuki was despairing and growling aloud in a corridor of the WAXA Japan Branch building: Dr. Yoiri and Acid attempted to cool him down but they weren't having much success either.

"Now, now. Shidou – chan. Maybe we should begin the meeting and try to focus our ideas there?"

"Fine. Let's start the meeting already."

"Let's go, Acid – chan."

"… Roger." He muttered with a hint of defeat.

"Welcome to the club." Akatsuki sighed.

"I already am on it, thank you."

They followed Dr. Yoiri into the Command Room where the Operators, the Commandos, Heartless, Daigo and the Chief (plus the Wizards) had been gathered at.

"Vadous isn't taking part?"

"Dr. Lartes is trying to limit his activity to prevent him from overworking and collapsing from lack of proper sleep." Acid explained.

"Alright. Let's start."

"Our investigation of the scene yielded some scarce pieces of information that could be useful: the ground wasn't totally dry, it'd recently rained, and thus there were footprints. 44 size foot… Given the length of the strides, then our man is in top shape… Apparently hit a thin tree branch around the forehead height so we measured his height to be approximately 1' 84." Ryuusuke reported.

"Good enough. What about the protocol analysis?"

"76% done… Most of it is made up of non-finished non-released protocols made up by small companies in the last 5 years yet they all ended up bankrupting and their data stolen before they could be released: the programmers did have some backups but they didn't want to continue without being paid for their job…" Heartless explained.

"Hmmm… Sounds like the culprit did it on purpose to gain unique protocols that couldn't be easily analyzed… A complicated way to do it yet it proves again that this type didn't come up with this out of the blue: it might've been in the planning for years."

"The data cube?" Acid asked.

"Mostly junk data… A list of names… "John Wade"… "Vernay"… "Macomber"… "Calvin"… "Kendall"… "GP"… "Harley S." … "T. Square"… "Tele-what"… Then a note… "66 pages… 8 per day, 10 the last day."…"

"Hmmm… Sure sounds like junk data." Akatsuki muttered.

"Other data… "Gray Island, close to Antarctica"… But we searched and found no such island… Some bank account numbers but the accounts don't seem to have ever existed… The owner name was "Colonel Ilkor"… There's no record of who it is or was… It's surely a fake name to begin with so…"

"Guess that. Anything else?"

"No. There were no specific coordinates. We did find remains that make up about 28% of one of those Denpa Bodies."

"Did you discover anything about them?"

"They use a standard Wizard as basis but it seems to add some custom components there and there… But a lot of data's missing and we can't make an accurate analysis."

"… Huff, huff… Sorry for the delay, everyone!"

Misora rushed in, out of breath, and leant her right hand into the right wall to recover her breath.

"What happened, Misora – chan?" Daigo asked.

"Huff! A mob of fans suddenly showed up saying someone had mailed them to tell them about some "ultra-secret ultra-exclusive ultra-VIP concert for free"… I managed to use my Denpa – Henkan ability to hack into their Hunter – VGs… And I altered the mail to make it look like it instead was a prank by some jealous rival…" She explained in a rush while sighing.

"War Rock?" Akatsuki sighed.

"Oh no! I suspect _sensei_'s handiworks."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me."

"More data has surfaced… Some notes… "Gotta do something about that Queen Tia gal sooner or later. Else IQ – sama will have my neck for not doing anything about the competency, the copycat, the usurper… Their Grace would go on and on and on… So I'll send the invisible-model Hunters for the gal. Let's see how she fights them back. The more battle data I get the better."…"

"It must be related to the eyewitness accounts of the invisible freaks striking the district where her place is at… But I'm pretty convinced that it ended up in total failure."

"Knowing _sensei_… She surely didn't even sweat. Oh well."

"The sweat league! Mwah, hah, hah, hah!"

"Pororon! War Rock. Not cha again."

"Did ya call for me, Harp? My ears are burnin'!"

War Rock showed up to the exasperation of everyone in the room: there was a sudden yelp close by.

"Mouse-trap! OW!"

"Not again…!"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Trap-Mouse Man was busy."

"How silly."

"Wha~t?"

"You two! Don't start another FM – AM War!" Daigo tried to stop them before they got to the hands.

"HMPF!"

"HMPF!"

"Oh come on! Harp!"

"More data… A translation algorithm… Mexican to Japanese… I don't see what use he has for this." Heartless called out.

"Hmpf! The guy gotta be a fan of _Marachi_ Moon!"

"Marachi Moon? Oh come on." Daigo sighed.

"Wait a minute… Given the guy's random moods… Couldn't that mean that the guy likes to put pressure on Subaru by playing back all of the crap Moon Disaster comes up with?"

"The last thing needed!" Daigo cursed.

"Oh no…! Subaru – chan…!" Dr. Yoiri gasped.

"By all the…"

"But I believe on Subaru! He'll be strong enough to overcome that! I'm sure of that!" Akatsuki rallied.

"Well said!" Daigo looked animated.

"As expected of Subari~! The triangle's blessing!"

"What's that?" Daigo looked mistrusting.

"Dunno! Maybe some pendant?"

"The pendant I made isn't a triangle. And you know it." Daigo countered without being impressed.

"Maybe some-one and no-one knows?"

"Pororon! Quit it with the nonsense, bully."

"BULLY? ME!"

"Settle it outside!" Akatsuki ordered.

"FINE!"

"Pororon!"

"Really… They look like a marriage about to go for divorce!" Misora sighed in defeat.

"Don't bring it up, Misora – chan… It might bring misfortune for all we know, even…" Daigo grimly muttered.

"Now, now. Daigo – kun. Let's not be that defeatist." The Chief tried to encourage him.

"Another piece of data… "Bring over the miscarried sheep!"… It looks like he's quoting someone but we can't know the context." Heartless read aloud, frowning.

"Miscarried sheep? Odd wording. Maybe it means to say some persons who committed mistakes or did thing they shouldn't have done? It's too ambiguous, anyway." Akatsuki rubbed his chin.

"Indeed."

"Ugly! Cha! What! Eat this! Grah…! Eat this as well!"

"Someone! Go to stop those 2 already…!" Akatsuki grumbled.

_I feel like we're in the trail of something… But we lack solid clues! We need more clues! And soon! I fear for the worst-case scenario, even…!_

17:37 PM (Japan Time)…

"… How does this feel like? Tsukasa – kun."

"Oh…! Ah…! Good… Too good, Gino – kun…!"

"There's more."

"Oh…! Yes… Like that…!"

"Heh, heh, heh."

Kiboyama and Tsukasa were having sex in one of their rooms: Kiboyama was lying face-up on the bed and gripping Tsukasa's waist as he thrust his cock in and out of his ass: Tsukasa looked like he was enjoying the feeling and Kiboyama chuckled.

"I needed something to vent off the other day's tension…! I don't know what happened to me…"

"Forget that! Let's try to cheer up… For Subaru – kun's sake."

"I know. He wouldn't like seeing us with this down mood." Tsukasa muttered.

"Eh… The longing non-longing elephant wants to shine! "It's my turn to shine"!" Kiboyama made up a joke to brighten the mood.

"Heh, heh, heh… Wouldn't surprise me."

"But, really… I'm not surprised that Moon Disaster got kicked outta the job of watching over the prison and they placed Blood there: the guy was driving everyone mad with his silly songs and rhymes… How can something be evil and repellent yet blessed at the same time? It doesn't make sense to begin with."

"You needn't tell me. I remember having heard rumors when I was wandering the radio world after the FM Invasion… Something about a tournament of Denpa Bodies in the hidden side of the Moon… I didn't pay much attention back then but I remember Hikaru poking at me saying he wanted to beat them all… The guy… Always looking to start a brawl or to hit someone… What a guy!"

"Alright, alright. Let's calm down, Tsukasa – kun."

"Yeah… Tease my nipples, Gino – kun."

"OK."

"O~h… Yeah… This! This is what I wanted to feel!"

"Heh, heh, heh."

"… Lao Tsu once said… you must find the Shanghai Duck." A polite man's voice could be heard muttering outside, in the corridor.

"Dragon Hell – san… He surely is going to fetch something at the storage bay again…"

"Surely… Shanghai Duck, huh? Must be a 5-star meal."

"Undoubtedly…"

"Mwah, hah, hah. Yo. Dragon."

"Sigma – dono."

"Heh, heh, heh! Did ya know? The Tsu Lao followers will erect a cardboard monument!"

"… Ah. Is that so?" His voice suddenly seemed to gain a hint of anger to it, for once.

"Anger? That's a first." Tsukasa commented.

"Well… Guess he doesn't like people making fun of his admiration for Lao Tsu…"

"Uh… Well… I take it back! _Ciao_!"

"… Hmpf…"

"Dragon? What happened?" Vadous asked.

"Sigma – dono made fun of my admiration for Master Lao Tsu."

"The idiot…! Omega! Get the idiot to do something useful! The guy almost started a fight with Dragon!"

"Copy that."

"About time." Both guys muttered.

"Get back to work, Dragon."

"Roger."

"You two alright?" Vadous knocked on the door.

"Yes. Some games helped vent off the bad mood."

"We're having a good time."

"Alright."

"But, really… The walls are too thin. There should be sound-insulation layer inside of them to make the rooms more private."

"Maybe it's built like this in purpose. If there was an intruder or something and they made a noise it could be heard from the corridor." Kiboyama suggested.

"I hadn't thought of that. Then again, there have been times in which Denpa Bodies have managed to intrude." Tsukasa admitted while recalling something.

"And me, too… I mean, so did Kuroban, back when I was his host. But I've got no memory of that myself."

"Oh yeah. I'd heard of that."

"But well. That doesn't matter. Get ready!"

Kiboyama resumed teasing Tsukasa's nipples: Tsukasa groaned and seemed to be feeling good given how his cock hardened: Kiboyama picked Tsukasa's right hand and closed it around it so that Tsukasa would rub it on the meanwhile.

"Too good, too good!"

"To be true?"

"Hah… Not bad…!"

"There's more of more~…"

"Hah, hah… Whoa!"

Tsukasa suddenly released and groaned in pleasure: his ass inner muscles gripped Kiboyama's cock and triggered his release as well: both stopped and panted to recover.

"MALASHAHA~H!"

"WAR ROCK!" Lartes growled.

"Too bad, Dr. No! Bond says ya fired!"

"Sigma…! You talk too much…! Get out of my room! I'm analyzing the data WAXA sent! I'm busy! Do something useful!" Lartes fumed.

"I beat the gal!"

"Who, Harp? Acid had to split you! And you know it!"

"What the fuck's going on NOW?" Vadous rushed over there.

"Oho. The Sith Lord came! _Hasta la vista_!" War Rock snickered.

"Shit. The lil clawed rascal AGAIN! NYAGRA~H!" Vadous roared out of frustration and annoyance.

"B-Boss! Cool it down! Else we won't get anywhere!"

"I know that, Lartes! Someone give a lesson to the rascal!"

"I'll go." Omega simply announced.

"Oh boy…"

"Miles, Storm! You go give the guy a lesson too! The guy's asking for it!"

"My pleasure!" Storm muttered.

"Count with me too!" Miles fumed.

"But don't go over the edge or else the culprit will make fun of us because we're fighting each other." Lartes warned.

"I KNOW THAT!"

"Huff. Boss. You don't seem to." He calmly muttered with a hint of annoyance.

"SHEESH!"

He walked away and they heard a door slamming shut: both guys had sat on the bed and were dressing back by now.

"I don't feel in the mood anymore."

"Join the club." Tsukasa sighed.

"I know."

Tsukasa's Hunter – VG rang and he sighed as he picked it up: Luna showed up onscreen.

"Tsukasa – kun!"

"Yes, _iinchou_?"

"You'll be my boyfriend!"

"LUNA!" Her mother scolded in the background.

"Wha! Mom! I thought you'd gone out!"

"You can't just force people to obey your caprices! What are you, a tyrant? You aren't, right? Get back to work! Homework!" Ms. Shirogane scolded next.

"B-b-b-but!"

"And give me that!"

"Wait, mom!"

CLICK!

"_Iinchou_ and her obsession with soap operas…!" Tsukasa sighed.

"The last thing we needed… The town's going mad again and again. Is there no end to the madness?"

21:45 PM (Japan Time)…

"… What do you hope to find here, Shidou? We did make a detailed terrain investigation."

"The well… It was picking me for some reason or another… So I looked it up… And it turns out that it leads to an abandoned coal mine…"

"Is that so?"

"It'd seem it used to be a ventilation shaft but, during work on the mine, a water pocket was breached. So they stopped using this gallery and opened new ones. But nevertheless I think that we should be able to get inside of the galleries."

"There might be some clue."

"Maybe it's the hideout. Or maybe not. But it's worth a try."

"Alright."

Acid Ace had come to the scene of the confrontation with the culprit the other day and checked out the well: he found rung ladders built into the western wall but he ignore those and dropped down into the ankle-high water: a gallery extended across the area so he headed south along it until he reached a crossroad.

"Hmmm… There's wind from the west…"

"Careful, Shidou. I can pick up a few odd signatures converging into this crossroad of galleries… They must be more freaks."

"Alright… Ugh! Gross!"

"By all the…"

The enemies that came in had no resemblance whatsoever to a human save for their white-skinned legs that support a mass that was a balloon-shaped lump of meat.

"They look like they could hold gas."

"Devil. Maybe they explode and all."

In effect: one of them shuddered and suddenly exploded, staining the surroundings with blood: its legs collapsed into the floor and got deleted so Acid Ace grumbled.

"Gotta put some distance."

"Useless!"

"Damn it. You again! Give Subaru back!"

"Not yet! The time's not ripe yet!"

"What?"

A Night Baron showed up from the eastern gallery and laughed: Acid Ace growled but got surprised by the enemy's reply.

"Che. Spoke too much…"

"So you were planning on giving him back after some time passed? How odd… Ah! But of course. It's a trap to make us feel confident." Acid Ace guessed.

"Hmpf! Got seen through. Meh. Whatever the ever… My tele-something is going to make mincemeat of you guys!"

"Tele-something? Gotten senile? Forgot the name?"

"Damn you~… Go!"

The invisible "Hunters" rushed in and Acid Ace grumbled as he tried to shake them off or delete them: he shot at another of those weird enemies to make it detonate and take out some of the "Hunters": Night Baron laughed but then a familiar purplish hand plunged through its body as the Laplace Blade began to bounce around the room and cut off all on its path: Burai could be seen behind the Denpa Body as it became stone: he snickered.

"I'm going to pull off the core and the memory storage. Since they'll be "frozen" then they can't be remotely operated."

"Good thinking!"

"I'm going to bring this to WAXA… I'll spread a rumor that it's been taken to the lab that was assaulted Sunday. I already placed a dummy there: you direct one or two defenders there… This will make it more realistic: then we only need to feign surprise, caught with the pants down and defeat: there you have it." Burai exposed.

"Good thinking!"

"Omega came up with it, actually. Anyway. Laplace! Stay here and dispatch the rubbish. Omega will use a portal to send me to WAXA quickly enough. They've already set jammers to prevent this thing from emitting any signals too."

Burai pulled off the spherical core with some cut wires plus a circular case that apparently was the memory storage: the Laplace Blade cut the Denpa Body in half and it got deleted while Burai rushed out through the same gallery: Acid Ace began to recoil and reached the well's shaft.

"Send Wolf and Cygnus there!" He radioed.

"Roger."

"Da…"

"I think it wishes something." Acid interpreted.

"No more Bratwursts for you." Burai fumed.

"Who'd said he liked Bratwursts? But does he eat?" Acid Ace seemed to frown.

"Not really. He thinks they're pencils. Some idiotic spam that reached me and that this guy took too seriously." Burai sighed.

"Pencils? Oh come on."

"I know. Huff."

"Ku…"

"It seems to be disappointed."

"Obviously enough."

Acid Ace rushed towards the road and climbed into the car parked there: he rushed away while leaving behind the annoyed "Hunters" that tried to give chase yet he opened his window and dropped a string of Count Bomb Battle Cards to take them out.

"This is Wolf… We're being attacked! G Viruses!"

"We're doomed!"

"Ya shut up and fight like a MAN! My blood's boilin'!"

"You heard him, Utagai – san!"

"Why me~?"

"You were available! I'm too tired to continue fighting!"

"It's the curse of the Nameless Emperor!"

"Don't believe the crap War Rock says." Cygnus scolded.

"It's not that easy~!"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! Useless! Self-destruct: on!"

An explosion rang out on the other end of the line.

"KYA~H! The core and the data storage~! It's the curse of the Nameless Pharaoh! The Millennium Curse~!"

"Squeak in far, Mc Duck!"

"Grrr! Eat these!"

SLASH! ZASH! RAZH!

"Ugrah! So the Wolverine wannabe can bite. Else you'd put your ancestor to shame!" The Night Baron grumbled.

"I dunno whaddya mean and I don't wanna know either." Wolf Forest grumbled.

"What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?"

"Pull out! We lost this round too. Shit."

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Too bad, Akatsuki! It's the curse of the dandy fellow! The curse of the twink!"

"Yeah, yeah. Sure, sure."

"I'm off! Struggle in despair and hopelessness!"

"… Switching to encrypted channel… Done." Acid announced.

"Good job, you two. The guy fell for it. As expected. Return to your posts: and try to be quiet, Utagai – san. Or else start a fuss about a curse and defeat and all. It'll make the culprit get cocky."

"A-alright."

"Fine. If it's for the sake of fooling the enemy…"

"This is Burai… I delivered the good safely. They're being analyzed. Omega and I scouted the whole perimeter but there's nothing odd. The culprit totally fell for it, it'd seem."

"Don't lower the guard nevertheless."

"Of course not."

"Gu… Da… Ku… Ta…"

"No, you won't become the Frenchman Graffiti Genius."

"Frenchman Graffiti Genius? Sheesh. Sigma and War Rock!"

"And Moon Disaster." Acid dully added.

"They need some lessons, alright. Oh man."

"Let us hasten. I want to analyze the goods."

"I know, Acid! Let's hope we can get an important clue this time around, something to lead us into the right track…"

"Let us hope so, yes."

"Hang on there, Subaru…! We're getting closer…! Closer…!"

_Soon! Soon this madness will end! Let's hurry it up! Hang in there! Subaru!_


	8. Chapter 8: Cowardly tactics

**Chapter 8: Cowardly tactics**

10:22 AM (Japan Time), Sunday December the 9th…

"… I'm Mr. Universe! Did you know it? Hibiki – chan."

"Hmmm? Who are ya? How did you get there sans permission?"

"Who needs it? There's only me and you…"

"SECURITY!"

"You called? Hum! A suspicious fellow!"

"Wha! That was fast!"

"So! Who is it?"

"Ah. Akatsuki – san. Good timing. We don't know yet but…"

"Alright. In that case… Shall we have you willingly accompany us to the Satella Police HQ?"

"E~H! Sapo…! Satella Police~?"

"The same ones. Now. Talk. Ugly."

"YIKES!"

Misora had come out into the filming area of Okudama Studios, SE of it, only for a guy on his mid-20s having black hair and brown eyes irises to come bother her: she directed a mistrusting look to him but he began to try to play _chevalier_: Misora called for security and 4 Security Wizards materialized, surrounding the guy: he gasped as Akatsuki, Acid and 2 Commandos came into the scene: Akatsuki glared at the guy and the guy gulped.

"I'm just a noble person! I just wanted her autograph!"

"Hmmm…" Akatsuki didn't seem to believe him.

"State name and occupation." Acid ordered.

"Eh? Well… Kanoo Matou, 22, programmer…"

"Searching database… Match found… Criminal history: one case, dating 3 years 4 months 11 days…" Acid searched the database.

"What was it?"

"Pickpocket in his college. He was expelled."

"Pickpocket… Nothing else?"

"No."

"So you wanted to steal her wallet, huh?" Akatsuki grumbled.

"T-that's… the past!"

"Not registered as employee of any company. Freelancer programmer: he shares a flat with another 3 persons." Acid listed next.

"Fine. We'll settle this at the HQ. For the time being you're charged with trespassing. This area is staff only."

"E~H?"

"Accompany us."

"No way!"

"Way."

The two Commandos dragged the guy away while Akatsuki sighed: he then glanced at Acid who nodded and scanned the area.

"Satellite Search."

There were no signatures or responses so he shrugged.

"Alright. The area seems to be clear yet… Did you check the Wave Roads and the immediate radius, guys?"

"Affirmative. We found no Virus acting out of usual or Wizard acting out of the usual."

"Good. Anyway. Let's get to the main topic."

"What progress have we done?"

"Thanks to the stuff Burai managed to get… We found out that the control signal goes through several repeaters… We began to trace them back but ended up in the Izu Peninsula… It'd seem that the other repeaters had their records erased. We're trying to see if we can recreate the path by sending pings to them and studying their reactions." Akatsuki narrated to her.

"Izu Peninsula…" She muttered.

"But that could be one of many repeaters: we got through 12 repeaters before ending up there." Acid warned.

"Huff. The culprit isn't making it easy. What about the memory storage, was there something on it?"

"Some pre-recorded dialogue… And some names… "Ooze"… "Chunk"… "Pincer"… "Farfarello"… "Hunter"… "Tricorne"… We're not sure of what they are but I've got the hunch it's the names of those freakish things we've been fighting insofar."

"They could be, yeah."

"Then there was something about "flash 'n spin 'n napping"… It surely was some other randomness that the Denpa Body was supposed to snap at us during the fight."

"Where was the Denpa Body built?"

"Sadly there wasn't any data about it. Or about from where it got to the mines although it's obvious that it used a portal. They all seem to be made from a base model and then cloned… Their abilities are: Float Shoes, Air Shoes, Under Shirt and HP plus 500…"

"So… What's their max HP?"

"600."

"600, huh… I thought it could be 666."

"No wonder. Seeing the guy's obsession with being a "Demon Tribe Chief" to begin with…"

There was a sudden noise and they saw several of the staff run off through the front door while covering their mouths and nose: some more ran out through the back door and into the stage's yard.

"W-what happened?" Misora asked an employee.

"… Cough, cough…! Tear gas…! Someone filled the whole ventilation system with tear gas… Cough…!"

"My eyes!" Another groaned.

"By all the… Is this a new tactic by the culprit?"

"It wouldn't surprise me."

"Shidou. I am catching a familiar signature in the back-yard amongst the staff… Analyzing… It's not a Night Baron."

"Don't tell me it's Queen Tia."

"Oh heck. And she gassed the Studios to try to kidnap me during the ensuing confusion?"

"So. The singer became the detective."

"Queen Tia! You've done it this time! I'll have you arrested her and now for a terrorist attack on a TV studio!"

Queen Virgo suddenly showed up coming from the road running along the building's right side and looking unimpressed: Akatsuki growled and signaled her with the right index finger.

"Denpa – Henkan!" Both he and Misora exclaimed.

They transformed and drew their weapons: Queen Virgo merely shrugged and spun her staff.

"God R…!"

"Slow! Wing Blade~!"

Acid Ace turned on his jets and ran forward, crashing into Queen Virgo and pushing her back: Harp Note jumped over him.

"Shock Note!"

She shot some of her notes at Queen Tia as she began to clash her staff against Acid Ace's Long Sword.

"Che! Foolish plebeian deluded by illusions…! Be buried under the ice forever!" She got annoyed.

"Hmmm…" Acid Ace looked like he was mistrusting.

"Machine Gun String!"

Harp Note shot some strings that plunged into the navel area of Queen Virgo and sent some musical notes down them: Queen Virgo wasn't paying heed to them either.

"So. You made Ice go berserk back then."

"Indeed."

Harp Note frowned at Queen Virgo's reply directed at Acid Ace after he'd guessed something aloud.

_Huh? I've got the feeling something's wrong. Maybe it's nothing. My imagination, I guess._

"Since you lot are being annoying… I'll leave it at here for today: but do not think you can escape your inevitable fate."

Queen Virgo warped out of the area while Harp Note fumed and mumbled out of annoyance.

"Sheesh. _Sensei_…! When will you leave me in peace? We bothered to catch that spy and all… And this is the result of the struggle we've gone through? It was all in vain?"

"Che! We'll have to find a way to stop her or else…"

"Cool it down, Shidou."

"I'm trying to!"

"Pororon. There they go again." Harp muttered.

16:26 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Zzz…"

"Eh… Boss?"

"Huh? Ah! I fell asleep!"

"That's why Lartes and I…"

"I know, I know! But I can't stand being there and doing nothing! I must pour my efforts too!"

"Anyway. We need to come up with a plan to handle Queen Tia soon enough or else things will get ugly."

"Shit. The last thing we needed."

"Calm down. We'll find a way around. As usual."

"As usual… Fine. What does Akatsuki say?"

"They're having some success with the ping system but it takes a lot of effort to have the system accept those."

"Sheesh."

Omega came to talk with Vadous and found him asleep on his command armchair: he woke up and scowled when Omega brought the bad news but Omega tried to encourage him.

"Warning. Warning. Code I. Code I."

"Intruders? The culprit?" Vadous grumbled.

"Massive data upload has infiltrated Outer Level. Stopped by Level 1 Firewalls. Warning. Data materializing. Denpa Bodies."

"More freaks?" Omega grumbled.

"Obviously!"

"I'll go."

"Good. I'll lock all doors. Send Miles and Storm to fight, too."

"Roger."

Omega dashed away and stepped into an elevator platform: it headed down a diagonal shaft and an energy field came up to seal it up: Vadous typed into the console and brought up imagery of one rounded metallic corridor with armored doors on both sides, some archways, and fluorescent lights in the ceiling.

"So? Whose turn is it today?"

Some enemies came into sight: they were less grotesque than the ones with the teeth of some days ago.

These ones had pretty normal faces yet they seemed to lack a mouth, their eyes were small, they had no hair and apparently no ears or nose either.

Their right arm had something like four flaps that were closed around where the hand would be: the left arm only had a skeletal hand at its end instead.

Omega rushed towards it: the enemy lifted the right arm and opened the flaps to then shoot a projectile seemingly made of bone: Omega quickly cut it up along with the freak.

"They only seem to be efficient at long range."

"That must mean they're backed up… by the "Hunters"…" Vadous calmly deduced.

"Yeah. Here they come."

The "Hunters" came into sight but Omega simply began to slice them up: other imagery showed Miles using his shield to block attacks and then plunge his spear through the enemies: Storm formed electrical arcs and shot at them: Sigma was shooting lasers from his eyes that pierced through the outer skin and stunned the enemy before he shot thin white electrical rings to them and zap them: Blood Shadow unloaded his shotgun as they got close to him.

"Struggle, struggle~!" A Night Baron laughed close by.

"Central Hub? I'll deal with it myself! Hah!"

Vadous pressed a button and one of the grids, the right one, opened thus revealing a huge cylindrical room extending below it having various sets of catwalks intercrossing it at different heights.

"Let's go!"

He jumped down and landed in one of the catwalks before scouting the insides of the area.

The Central Hub was easily over several tens of meters tall and huge: it was a gigantic cylinder-shaped room which had several catwalks and stairs crossing across it from different heights and directions plus large fans set on the walls: the ground was a mere metallic grid which seemingly allowed a large bulk below it to expel heat: most of the room was unlit but the catwalks had fluorescent paint on the ground and handrails to mark them: the ceiling had two small metallic grids as well shaped like opposing halves of an hexagon one of which was opened and was from where Vadous had dropped from.

"Black Ace! Track Denpa Body signature!"

"No need to! I'm here! Traitor!"

"Traitor? Hmpf. Speak for yourself!"

"Wha~t?"

"You didn't even bother to rescue Anaya."

"IQ – sama~!"

The Night Baron suddenly hovered and floated around Vadous and tried to taunt him but Vadous shot the taunt back to annoy it.

"Whatever. You're pre-programmed, anyway."

"Like I care! I'm immortal!"

"Oh yeah? Did you find the Philosopher's Stone or what?"

"Good attempt but that's as far as it comes! Go, my pets!"

"Sheesh. Double Thunder!"

Vadous drew both swords and they frizzled with electricity and crossed them to form the shape of an "X": streaks of electricity jumped off and defeated the "Hunters" that got too close: he then made them spin in mid-air and move around while cutting anything on their path: the Night Baron remained silent since it surely wasn't programmed to react to such a situation.

"It's Lorentz Force."

"Sith Lord Lorentz?"

"Sheesh. Quit it with the Sith Lord."

"Then why didn't you change your name?"

"Because it'd be running away from it: you lousy leftover."

"I'M NO DAMNED LEFTOVER!"

"You lousy lapdog."

"YOU SON OF A…! YIKES!"

"Oh my? So Anaya was "you-know-what"?" He snickered.

"Spoke too fast!"

"Denpa Body is receiving live commands." Black Ace reported through the helmet's radio.

"Aha-hah. Begin tracing…" He whispered.

"What are you whispering?"

"Dunno. Maybe a spell to cut off your wings?"

"Beware, fool! You're facing a Death Eater!"

"I'm SO scared. A devout neophyte that bowed to Death Shadow?"

"SHEESH!"

"Shaash." Vadous snickered.

"Invaders defeated."

"What! Already. Shit."

"4th hacking attempt repelled."

"Aha. So you've come to try to hack my data. But I've placed several security measures." Vadous shrugged.

"Then I've got no further business here! Retreat!"

"Warning. Tracing interrupted. Signal traced to repeater in Yamaguchi Prefecture…"

"Yamaguchi… So we were right: it wasn't in Izu. I've got the hunch we're getting closer. Let's start to direct some searches there… You can unlock the doors, Black Ace."

"Roger. Door locks released."

"By Release Man!"

"Ahem, ahem." Omega grumbled.

"Yikes! I didn't intend to make a double-meaning joke!"

"Move your butt to Yamaguchi! NOW!" Omega snapped.

"R-roger, sir!"

"Well, well… Yamaguchi… Maybe they want to enjoy bathing in a December _onsen_?" Blood Shadow tried to come up with something to vent off the tension in the air.

"Why not… The guy must think he's a model."

"And, Boss… Will you have some tea to calm down?" Lartes asked.

"Alright. I feel satisfied to have overcome the rascal. Let's see if Dragon can make it be of decent quality."

"If not… Let's put some pressure." Lartes shrugged.

_That asides… I feel like we're closing in… Another little bit…!_

21:51 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Gruh… Grah… Ugh… Ah…! Nguh…!"

"Good rhymes. About to patent them?"

"S-shut up…"

"Does the column feel good?"

"Like Hell!"

"Glad to hear it…"

"Shit."

Subaru was moaning as he was tied to the "column", a metallic column with a square base: he was sitting on his knees and a piston with two dot-filled vibrators spinning clockwise and anti-clockwise was continuously pumping in and out of his ass: his cock was still plugged and he had the metallic cups on his nipples.

"My lil attempt failed but nevertheless… I set the fear on them! Mwah, hah, hah, hah." Ganondorf laughed.

"Hah… I'm skeptical…!"

"Che. Stubborn type… Whatever. Soon… A week will have passed. How's that for a revelation?"

"Shit. A week…! I thought it'd been 3 days…! Being underground and blindfolded most of the time makes me lose notion of time and day: what madness!"

"Heh, heh, heh. Maybe you'd prefer to go as Commander on a deep-space exploration that takes months to reach the Jupiter system? Switching with the second-in-command every some hours and abiding to a dull and mundane routine…" He chuckled.

"No need to! With Vadous – san's "hyper-drive" we can be there in a matter of hours!" Subaru replied.

"Heh, heh, heh. Oh well. Whatever the ever."

"… YO! YO! YO! Welcome! _Amigos_! In this edition… I bring forth the alluring and mystifying grandness of someone… And that someone is… ME! Moon Ace! YO! YO! YO!"

_How stupid… What useless ego! Moon Disaster!"_

"Let's go~! _Un tipo con barba derrota un tipo con bigote_! A bearded guy beats a moustache guy!"

_Where's the LOGIC on it?_

"Oho. We've got company. It's someone and no-one!"

"Shut the trap up." Omega icily hissed.

_And now you pissed off Omega – san._

"Yo! Danna! I know it! The culprit's whereabouts!"

"Impress me. Go ahead."

"Somewhere and no-where!"

THUD!

"Ugrah!"

"Got not time for idiocies. Someone's life is at stake. Go sing that to the lions in the savannah! SHEESH!"

_What were you hoping to accomplish? You should know by now that "serious mode" Omega – san never has time for jokes or idiocies: he's got a very short patience indeed!_

"Heh, heh, heh. Disaster dropped by with the Dis – ter –as troop! Don't ya think so, Hoshikawa~? Nyah, hah, hah. Mwah, hah, hah!" Ganondorf laughed.

_Only you would think it's funny. You or War Rock. Or Sigma – san. Let's hope they do something useful this time around! _

"O~w! Sheesh! Let's resume, anyway!"

"Mwah, hah, hah. What's up, Moonie~?"

"YO! YO! YO! Omega hit me, the jerk!"

"That's why I say that ya gotta stay away from the guy's serious mode or else you'll regret it, man."

"Sheesh! Fine! Let's resume… _El pato tiene muchas patas_!"

"Mwah, hah, hah. The duck's got many legs."

"And wives!"

"'Cause "patas" can also mean "female ducks"!"

_What a lame pun._

"And then… There were no jerks!"

"And no punks with white hair!"

"Say again!" Burai growled.

"Crap! Run for it!"

"Whoa!"

The broadcast got cut and Ganondorf kept on chuckling while Subaru inwardly groaned.

_Why do you always need to anger others around you guys? DO SOMETHING USEFUL!_

"You two! Search Yamaguchi Prefecture! NOW!" Akatsuki radioed them, growling.

"_Hermano_~! Let's go have some _samba_~!"

"Damn it all! I'm not your "bro~"! And I don't wanna dance _samba_: got no time! SUBARU'S LIFE AT STAKE! Get me?"

"Rock Man's life at stake? I thought he'd gone to the Bahamas?" Moon Disaster wondered.

"Do you EVER listen to me?"

"YO! YO! YO! Dunno. Ask your step-bro, the Republican Speaker."

"I – am – not – a – speaker!" Acid grumbled.

_Lovely. I knew it. Moon Disaster never pays proper attention! If he did he could do far more useful stuff!_

"Companion splitting, I take it?" Queen Tia butted in.

"You don't laugh! Queen Tia! Once this deal is over then you're next! I'll come settle it with you myself!"

"I see. So you will come rob my honor."

"For the last damned time! I'm not a depraved villain like that Night Baron rascal! The guy's an eyesore to you, no? Why don't you do something about it or next time HE will gas YOU?" Akatsuki exasperatedly told her instead as if to incite her.

"… Hmmm… Hmpf… You might have a point, Akatsuki. You have saved your life… for now."

The jacking was removed and Akatsuki growled.

"YO! YO! YO! I'm in Yamaguchi! And in Shimonoseki! The beaches are empty: guess there was a shark roaming there."

"It's December!"

"December? YO! YO! YO! Oh true. I thought it was August."

"You're in Valencia's moon, anyway."

"Valencia? A planet? Where? YO! YO! YO!"

"Sheesh! It's a Spanish saying! It means that you're not paying attention when you should be paying it!"

"Interestin'! So! What do I do?"

"Search for a repeater! Access it! And look up its records: there might be something in them! Some odd signal!"

"YO! YO! YO! Detective Moon, on the noon!"

"That pun's LAME!" Akatsuki growled.

"Now, now. Shidou – chan. Did you try out the Loosening Agony? It's good for the nerves."

"Hakase~… That a heavy metal music group!"

"Oh dear. Could've sworn it was a tea for the nerves."

"… Hakase~… How about you look over the "Copy Canceller" data and see if we can improve it somehow?"

"Oh well. I'll try."

"And that's it for today! So?" Ganondorf snickered.

"Hmpf…! Gruh… Gah…! Sh…! Nothing…!"

"Maybe this will make ya change ya mind?"

Ganondorf drew a metallic wide ring that he placed in Subaru's mouth to keep it open and closed the leather band behind his head: he then gripped the head with both hands as he forced Subaru to suck on his cock: he was unable to fight back because of the ring.

_Shit. This thing makes me unable to close the mouth!_

"Yeah… I'll show you how to do proper blowjobs… And how to lick feet: like the pig you are!"

_PIG? ME? You're the pig! You make a lot of noise but in the end you can't do anything but wait for the hunter to come! HMPF!_

"Yeah… Like this! Eat it up!"

He suddenly released and filled Subaru's mouth with the white stuff: he pulled the metallic cups and Subaru inwardly groaned.

"Heh, heh, heh. Struggle! As much as you want! Eventually… You will beg and submit to me! It'll be my grand victory! Let's go arrange for the next show… I've got some interesting freaks to show them…"

Ganondorf walked away from the spot while Subaru grumbled.

_Dream on, Ganondorf! You'll eventually be found… and defeated! Hah!_


	9. Chapter 9: Unleashed potential

**Chapter 9: Unleashed potential**

11:39 AM (Japan Time), Tuesday December the 11th…

"… Huff."

"So, Akatsuki?"

"Solo? Nothing. We searched a lot of Yamaguchi Prefecture but like I suspected it wasn't the origin of the signal. We're trying Fukuoka and Ehime Prefectures too."

"Che. The rascal…! I've been investigating the Mu Continent and found that some pieces of the Ra Mu remains are gone. So the rascal got there and stole them."

"Lovely. Another Ra Mu recreation? Sheesh. And next will be Crimson Dragon: the Big Ugly Destroy It All Trio!"

"I fail to see the point, Shidou."

"Bah. Don't mind my ramblings, Acid!"

Akatsuki had been sighing in defeat while standing next to the replica of the "Dynamic Station" used to send Subaru to Meteor G some time ago: Solo walked up to him and Akatsuki sighed while Solo growled as he explained his discoveries.

"… Beep! Beep! Warning! Warning! Unidentified planes heading towards here! ETA: 2 minutes 13 seconds! All personnel: rush to the basement shelter! Warning! Warning!"

"By all the… An air strike next? Let's go tell them some things!"

"Delighted! I needed some action."

"NUWA~HA~H! SOMEONE SAVE US! IT'S THE CURSE OF THE NAMELESS KING!" Utagai yelped and his voice rang out through an open window somewhere in the building.

"Sheesh. Anyway! Let's go, Acid!"

"Get ready, Laplace."

"Denpa – Henkan! On Air!"

Both transformed and climbed into the Wave Roads to then warp to the Sky Wave: they could see a squad of about 50 UAVs heading in the direction of WAXA, each one loaded with 4 heavy missiles that looked bigger than usual.

"Scans suggest the presence of some gas. Gas missiles."

"So they plan on gassing us, huh? This is Akatsuki! Turn on the oxygen system in the shelter and the CO2 filters! We're going to be gassed: shut all ventilation shafts!"

"Roger! Both systems: on!"

"Estimated time of arrival: 1 minute 29 seconds."

"Let's bring down as many as we can."

"Fine. Go, Laplace!"

"Da…"

"Eat this! Omega Laser!"

Both began to strike at the UAVs from a distance and brought some down as they raced to keep up to their speed.

"I heard the news! I'll support with the lasers of my HQ." Vadous told them over the radio.

"Good. Open fire."

"Put on light filters: they're very bright since they're tuned to be of a green color." Vadous warned.

"Roger."

A laser about 2 meters wide shot down from outer space and swept through a row of 10 UAVs, severing them in half and having them fall into the mountains surrounding WAXA.

"37 seconds."

"And we brought down about 29 of them. We should try to bring more of them down." Acid Ace muttered.

"I'm on it. Lasers 2 to 8: open fire! Lock on targets! FIRE!"

Another 7 lasers shot down while forming different patterns of movement yet making sure to create a cage-like formation that would inevitably slice through most of the UAVs.

"11 seconds. 42 down."

"Only 8 left!"

"Let's try to capture one for analysis… I'll try out the "cage"… Gravity cage: on! Target: lock on!"

A bluish stream of energy shot down from outer space and wrapped around one of the UAVs, robbing it of its energy and speed: it stopped and it was then yanked into outer space.

"Omega! Use one of the shuttles, perform an EVA and bring the thing into the docking bays! Kir Osh will dissect it. It's not a Denpa Body: it's a real UAV so… Since it lacks power then it can't accept signals. First thing to do will be to remove the emitter/transmitter and isolate it."

"Gotcha."

"2 seconds. 48 down."

"So only 1 will make it! Well. It could've been worse."

"I know."

They saw how the UAV armed the missiles and shot them towards the entrances of the ventilation shafts: they got stuck there and their heads split in two to reveal a barrel that began to pump a brownish/yellowish fog inside of the building.

"Warning. Gas is toxic. Contains an element that steadily removes carbon dioxide from the air and allows the oxygen rate to build up... It will cause an increased lung activity, excess of oxygen, artificial delirium and laughter and, finally, death." Acid listed.

"By all the… That's what happened last winter! Those Neo-Soviet guys tried to use this to take out all defenders and then invade Japan to exploit our mineral resources! They did similar things to some Asian and African countries as well… Luckily we managed to stop them and we arrested their top scientist…" Acid Ace cursed.

"Heck. The culprit's gotten serious."

"Everyone alright down there?" Acid Ace asked.

"Yeah. Oxygen reserves will last another 58 hours. There's plenty of food and water calculated to last for 1 month." Ryuusuke reported back.

"Turn on the building's fans but on reverse mode! We must vent off this damned fog thing and then we'll have to make it get back inside of the missiles… To then find a way to destroy it… I guess it must be flammable so maybe by setting fire to it…"

"Or diluting it with water somewhere…" Omega suggested.

"I think it's better to try to set fire to it or cause it to detonate. Maybe the culprit found another of those weather-changing stations and managed to produce the stuff with their machines. How's it going with the EVA?"

"Piece of a cake. I'm about to tug this thing inside. Kir Osh: you on standby?"

"Confirm: on standby." A man replied.

"… Good. I'm inside. Shutting dock bay doors… Reestablishing atmosphere… Done. You can come in."

"Fine."

"The fans are working. The fog should be coming out."

"Good. Let's see… We can use Material Waves in the form of the vacuum cleaners as well to fill them up and then try to detonate the gas in an isolated spot." Acid Ace suggested.

"I'll commend you yet, Detective Acid – chan!" A Night Baron suddenly showed up atop the WAXA building and laughed.

"Sheesh. Not another of those."

"I'll be waiting in the mines' deep levels… Do you have the guts to come after me or did Guts Man steal them?"

"Dunno how the guy can do that: we deleted the guy back in Zenay III. It was but another "Darkloid", anyway."

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh… Maybe one day you'll regret poking your nose where you weren't called for."

"Oh yeah? Like it ever happens."

"Grrr… You lowlife… I'll have you pay with your flesh the sin of looting Mu!" Burai threatened.

"Heh, heh, heh. I'd like to see ya try, Burai – chan." The Night Baron mocked next.

"GRUWRA~H!"

Burai got angered and warped next to the Night Baron to quickly slice it up into pieces using the Laplace Blade: the Night Baron growled and blew up while Burai panted.

"Shit! I'm fed up!"

"Alright, alright." Acid Ace gulped.

"Maybe…" Dr. Yoiri began.

"I don't think green tea is the answer, hakase~…"

"Oh my. I wanted to suggest Calm Peace."

"It was Peaceful Tea." The Chief corrected.

"Oh my. Chief. You do have better memory for those things! Heh, heh."

"Yes, yes. Now let's wait for the signal to get out of here."

"Let's go see what's in the mines."

"Fine. If I can slice up more bastards then I'm on it, too. Let's go!"

12:05 PM (Japan Time)…

"… What's this? The guy clogged the mini-tunnels the water of the well uses to circulate and caused for the water level in the galleries to rise to knee-high level! How annoying!"

"Yeah. And I'm sure it's not some vanity. Maybe it's some kind of aquatic freak to begin with."

"Wouldn't surprise me."

"No signatures found insofar."

"They must be deeper in or about to catch up with us."

"Hmpf! Rubbish."

"Hey. Did ya call for us?"

"What's this place?"

"Huh? Storm and Miles? No, I didn't. The culprit did."

"Sheesh."

"Too late! Become the prey of the Sea Creepers!"

Acid Ace and Burai reached the mines of the other day only to find the galleries partially flooded by knee-high water: they began to complain only to be joined by Miles and Storm: a Night Baron's voice rang out all of a sudden.

"Careful! Coming from the front and behind: swimming!"

"I knew it!"

Some silhouettes swam across the water and approached them: one leapt out to reveal that it was a human-like body with the main column exposed, hard skin over its back, devoid of eyes or nose, having teeth and _six_ arm-like limbs.

The legs ended in an odd shape that surely provided better mobility while inside of the water.

"Storm!"

"OK!"

"Jump!"

"Eat this! Stormin' Thunder!"

The 3 of them jumped out of the water as Storm's body frizzled with electricity: he shot several bolts of lightning to the water and electrocuted the enemies inside of it: they got deleted and the Night Baron gasped as it seemingly realized something.

"You were Elec!"

"Did ya think Storm stood for "storming a place"? Wrong!" Storm announced.

"Shit. I bothered to come up with this and…! Come to these! Go, my Hunters! Smash them!"

"Let's go!"

"Let's split and try to use the flooding to our advantage." Acid Ace suggested.

"OK!"

They all split while shooting back and counter-attacking the "Hunters": Storm and Miles got into a large gallery but were suddenly attacked by the "Sea Creepers" as they jumped out of the water.

"Hah! I lied! There are tons of them all across the mines! Too bad they can't ride up the waterfalls but whatever… As long as they remain on this floor then…" The Night Baron laughed.

"Shit. We got confident." Miles cursed.

"Whatever! Let's just smash them up."

"Agreed. Eat this!"

"You eat this! Stormin' Ball!"

Miles pierced through the column of one of the "Sea Creepers" as it jumped outta the water: the blow pierced through it and it got deleted as Storm formed an electrically charged sphere that he flung and it attached to another "Sea Creeper": it got electrocuted and deleted along with a "Hunter" that was about to jump over it to hit Storm.

"Two birds killed with one stone." He muttered.

"By the way! You know what the "triangle" is about?" The Night Baron showed up to taunt them.

"Dunno. We needn't know. It must be some game or joke." Miles was uninterested to begin with.

"Go carp!"

"Go carp, eh? Maybe you need a golden "Koiking"?"

"Dunno what that is. And I don't wanna know, either."

"That the better you can do? You're crappy." Storm taunted.

"Hmpf! This will become you lowlifes' graveyard!"

"We'll see 'bout that. Spear Rain!"

Miles formed a group of spears and they plunged into the water: some pierced through the "Sea Creepers" while he brought up his shield to deflect the assault of the "Hunters": the counter-attack momentarily stunned them so Miles easily pierced them with his spear: he and Storm moved inwards and reached an elevator shaft: a waterfall originated some levels above them and they could see "Sea Creepers" ride down their length to deeper levels: they merely hovered upwards while the "Hunters" chased by climbing up the walls.

"I'll make you go berserk next time around!"

"Noise Cards? They won't work: we've got the Black Ace PGM."

"Wha~t?"

"Yeah. The Satella Police learnt the lesson. They're not stupid, you know."

"Sheesh."

Storm and Miles reached the surface: the elevator shaft was placed inside of a small valley and enclosed by a rusted fence that looked like it was very old indeed: some remains of pavilions and other buildings could be spotted close by too.

"There. Now the water freaks won't be able to attack us. We can handle the clawed rascals." Miles announced.

"Let's give them a farewell gift! Break Count Bomb!"

Storm formed the Giga Card and dropped it down the shaft: it exploded some seconds later and apparently formed a plume of water that didn't reach very far.

"The Bombing Brigade~!" The Night Baron made up some lame title as if to taunt them.

"That your best shot?"

"It's lame. Crappy. Low-level. Retarded."

"RETARDED! ME! HOW DARE YA! GEMINI WANNABE!"

"I'm no Gemini wannabe. You are. Conspirer."

"How is it over here, guys? Ah! Here you are."

"You lowlife… Get ready."

"Sheesh."

Acid Ace and Burai joined them coming from the outside (they'd tossed the fence's door to the ground) and the Night Baron grumbled as it hovered higher in the air.

"Heavy Down X! Be crushed like INSECTS!"

"Wrong. Reverse Gravity!"

Burai lifted his right hand and it glowed: a purplish energy field wrapped around the 4 Viruses and had them fly upwards.

"W-what?"

The Night Baron looked up but Burai suddenly used the distraction to plunge the right hand through the upper head to rip off the memory storage unit and "freeze" it: the Denpa Body became unable to move or act so Miles and Storm focused their attacks on it.

"Eat this! Stormin' Spark!"

"Miles Spear!"

The Denpa Body silently blew up while Burai nodded to the others and rushed away while forming an identical copy that he yielded to Acid Ace: it soon "unfroze" and, immediately enough, another Night Baron dropped from the skies while opening the cape and letting it flutter on the wind as if trying to look imposing.

"Petty tricks! Die!"

"You die, recycled piece of trash." Miles grumbled.

"Come!"

"And leave." Acid Ace snickered.

"Funny, aren't cha? Hrah! Mad Vulcan X!"

"Devil!"

The rounds from the Mad Vulcan X hit the fake and blew it up: the Night Baron laughed and floated higher in the air.

"Futile, futile, futile~!"

"I wonder about that! Payback time! Heavy Down X!"

"Ugra~h!"

The Heavy Down X dragged the Night Baron down the shaft to then crush it and blow it up: the group sighed in relief.

"Let's pull out. We're all tired."

"Che. Damned rascal." The two Wizards grumbled.

19:29 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Today…! Let's go!"

ZA~P! CRRRA~CK!

"Warning! Overload in Grid 11! Intruder! Battle Wizards: deploy!"

"Rubbish! Hah!"

"Battle…! Ugrah!"

"Deploy machineguns!"

"Deploy…!"

"Slow! Hah! Hrah! Hyah!"

"T-the barrels got cut off!"

"Damn it!"

Assassin Shinobi broke through the prison's defenses again and cut up all resistance, be it Battle Wizards or large-scale machineguns: he rushed ahead through the yard only to have to dodge a large sword's swing: he jumped out of the way and grumbled.

"Che! Sigma!"

"COME AT FULL POWER!" Sigma turned off his stealth camouflage and made a challenging pose.

"You asked for it! Bunshin Nightmare!"

Assassin Shinobi formed 3 "bunshin" and the 4 of them struck Sigma from different angles: the "bunshin" attacked from the front and the flanks only to be repelled by his shielding yet the real one dropped down from above and managed to pierce through the weakest point on the shield thus shattering it: Sigma gasped and got out of the trajectory just in time to dodge it: he was then assaulted by the "bunshin" while the real one rushed towards the building.

"There!"

"Going somewhere?"

"Shit! You too, Omega!"

"Yeah. You're so eager to get in… Then we'll get you in. To make company to your petty master."

"Petty! That's you!"

"Oh yeah? Bring it on."

Omega suddenly blocked his way with his sword drawn: Assassin Shinobi growled and began to exchange blows with Omega: his concentration on that implied that he couldn't sustain the "bunshin" and thus Sigma was able to march towards there: he frowned and then looked at an annex building: alarms rang out there as Viruses formed and began to assault so Sigma cursed under his breath and raced over there.

"This guy materialized Assassin and is trying to rescue Phantom! If Phantom reaches Hyde 'long the Mu Star Carrier then they can perform Denpa – Henkan…! Che!" Sigma grumbled.

"Hurry over there. I'll handle this guy."

"I'm on it!"

"I won't make it easy! Bunshin! Come! Dance! Attack!"

The "bunshin" formed again and quickly spun upon their axis clockwise while throwing scout knives at Omega: he swung the sword and deflected most of them but the real one ducked and quickly thrust the sword forward to make a shallow cut over the stomach area and slightly curving towards the right flank of the body: Omega ignored that but then Assassin Shinobi pulled back while curving the angle of the sword, making a shallow cut partly across Omega's right knee: he jumped away and suddenly threw a scout knife that got stuck there: Omega winced and hissed: he grumbled and was forced to remain on that position because he needed both hands to maneuver the sword and deflect the attacks from the 3 "bunshin" enemies.

"Che."

"Heh, heh, heh… So, Omega… How does it feel like? Bittersweet? Acid? Sour? Spicy? Mwah, hah, hah, hah… Bring it on! The pain will slowly and carefully overwhelm your sensations!"

"What was I expecting, anyway?" Omega muttered in a sarcastic tone of voice but mainly addressed to himself.

"Dunno. Maybe some acrobatics? Mwah, hah, hah, hah."

"Outta the way, ya lot! Show your hide, Halloween punk!"

"… _Onoree… Shineii…_"

Sigma was beating the Viruses around the annex building and challenged for Assassin to show up: it did so while growling something on its ancient idiom that sounded like a cursing word.

"Fight!"

"Hmpf…"

16 ghostly scimitars formed around Sigma all of a sudden, each aiming for him from a different height and angle: they all spun clockwise as they shot for him and some got through his defenses because they were too small and quick to be properly deflected by his big sword: Assassin chuckled as Mettori G easily used its pickaxe to break through the concrete wall next to the armored doors: a "Neo Flamer" (the Virus that yielded "Machine Fire 3") used its flame output to melt the supports of the right-sided door so it collapsed: a wave of Battle Wizards rushed out and had to face the Mettori G as it hit the ground with the pickaxe: Assassin rushed inside while Sigma tried to chase only to find the same obstacle: he got nowhere so he grumbled under his breath.

"Blood! Your turn!"

"Alright!"

"Shit. Blood Shadow too!" Assassin Shinobi growled.

"Always have an ace-in-the-hole ready."

"Sheesh."

Blood Shadow landed there and got inside of the building, filled with steel drawers each having an energy barrier sealing them: each drawer had a holographic tag indicating the owner of the device inside and Assassin was trying to break through the one labeled "HYDE – MU STAR CARRIER": Assassin grumbled and formed 16 swords that shot for Blood Shadow: he merely placed the shotgun's barrel on the ground and shot thus letting the recoil shoot him into the ceiling: the swords plunged into the Mettori G from behind and immobilized it so Sigma used the change to plunge his sword through.

"METTO~!"

It blew up and Assassin hissed something under the breath as he recalled the scimitars and tried to fling them at the protective field but got to nowhere.

"That field is designed to repel most Denpa Bodies' attacks. Denpa objects won't break it." Blood Shadow announced.

"Ugrh!" Omega growled.

"S-Sir Omega! What happened?"

"Shit. This rascal got faster and my left knee is busted too! I'll have to shut down sensory input from them and remain in this pose. But don't intervene: try to corner Assassin!" Omega ordered.

"Roger! Bring it on, punk!"

"_Onoree… Onoree… Kiesareii~!_" Assassin growled.

"Try it. Charged shotgun shot!"

Blood Shadow shot another round from his gun and it hit Assassin, making it fly across the building and crash upon the far wall yet Blood Shadow quickly aimed at the ceiling: there was another Assassin there and it growled back.

"After-images." Blood Shadow guessed.

"As expected of a Mu Denpa Body, huh?" Sigma wasn't surprised.

"Guess that. Oi. Come down here and fight."

"Ugroh!"

"Wha? Sigma!"

A familiar sword suddenly plunged through Sigma's reddish core and emerged from the front: Assassin Shinobi flipped over his body and threw 8 scout knives at Blood Shadow's chest: two hit his shoulders, two his torso, two his waist and two the center of his armor: the pain temporarily overwhelmed him and Assassin Shinobi picked off his helmet: Blood Shadow had reddish hair beneath it, red and golden eye irises and a face identical of that of Subaru.

"I'll be borrowin' this! Hah!"

He threw it at the contention field and the mass of it was enough to overload it: he picked the Mu Star Carrier from inside as Assassin formed the scimitars: a portal opened and Vadous rushed out while brandishing both swords: Assassin Shinobi warped and reappeared on the main building's rooftop.

"Here I come, my Lord!"

"Well done, my disciple!" Hyde laughed.

He dropped down and tossed the Mu Star Carrier inside through the gap in the window bars: Hyde (wearing prison clothes) picked it and grinned as Phantom popped out.

"Let's go! Denpa – Henkan! On Air! First stop… The storage! I'll get my clothes back!"

He transformed and warped elsewhere while Asssasin Shinobi ran out of the compound followed by Assassin: there was an explosion and Phantom Black ran out of another wing of the main building carrying the drawer with his clothes on it: a portal opened and both rushed in before it closed: Vadous growled under his breath as he emerged from the annex, having all the scimitars plunged into his body armor.

"Shit…! We underestimated Shinobi…! What an evening! Damn it all!"


	10. Chapter 10: Howls of doom

**Chapter 10: Howls of doom**

07:57 AM (Japan Time), Thursday December the 13th…

"… Heh, heh, heh… Thursday the 13th!"

"… Damn it all…! Will it… ever end?"

"Who knows? It's the _Infinite Naraku_! The ultimate execution method of the Demon Tribe!"

"E-execution! You're gonna… kill me?"

"Nah! I copied that off some cool guy…"

"Shit…! Anything but death…!"

"Heh, heh, heh… There, there… Despairing, I see… Heh, heh, heh… Good, good… As Sidious would say… "He could fear the boy's anguish. That was good."…"

"Who the hell is this "Sidious"…?"

"Ask your precious Boss! The guy's one of the reasons for his name!"

"What…?"

Subaru had been moaning and sounded weak by now as he convulsed atop the bed as Ganondorf raped him while having Subaru's face be glued to the sheets: he still had the blindfold on and the same ropes: Ganondorf began to say something, Subaru gasped in fear, he began to shudder and tremble, Ganondorf made fun of it, quoted someone and then snickered when Subaru demanded to know.

"Oh well. But that doesn't matter too much. The nuke's about to be fired!"

"NUKE?"

"Kidding! Gotcha!"

"You bastard…! You don't joke with nukes!"

"Tell that to Liquid."

"Stop bringing up fictional guys!"

"You'd prefer real creepy guys? Like the one that kept Futaba on his manor's basement for a year and a half?" He snickered.

"You damned coward!"

"Heh, heh, heh. I'm sneaky. Like good ol' Colonel Olrik."

"Get to the point!"

"Oho. Demanding, aren't cha? And if I don't want to? What'll you do? Bite my balls? Heh, heh, heh."

"Sheesh."

"Heh, heh, heh. You're an amusing guy when one peels off those layers of "kind", "nice" and all that crap… When I expose your true character… As someone who has stepped into the Dark Side of the Force… And fed off it for years… Until those Jedi wannabes ruined it all…"

"Don't make fun of the 3 years I spent sinking into even deeper depression: they were 3 wasted years!"

"Heh, heh, heh. So it'd seem."

"You bastard…!"

"You need something to stimulate ya. Here ya have!"

He picked a candle placed in a nearby table and began to drop wax on his nipples and navel: Subaru groaned and hissed while agitating left and right as if trying to get away: he tried to crawl back but the guy was gripping the ropes tying his right leg with the right hand and pulling towards him: Subaru cursed something undecipherable under his breath.

"Yeah… Anger, anguish, hatred, grudge…! Deepen into them! Open the floodgates: let the anger flow out!"

"Shut the damned trap up…! Hypnosis master wannabe! Go sell your show somewhere else…! Damn it!"

"Heh, heh, heh. Let's put some action."

"Oh shit."

"YO! YO! YO! The planning battling crackling balancing genius of martial arts actually beat the 3 Musketeers! News of the year! The year will YEARN for ya!"

"What!"

"Oh yeah. That Shinobi punk actually managed to beat the 3 of them and rescue Hyde."

"Impossible!"

"Oh no, not impossible! He firstly disabled Omega's knees: he then used a distraction to plunge it through Sigma's core from behind and finally shot some knives at Blood Shadow, paralyzing him."

"Shit."

"Heh, heh, heh. That's the price to pay for underestimating the chap: he's got brains in case you hadn't noticed! Been training endlessly inside of the behemoth and coming up with new tactics and abilities… It caught the 3 Musketeers with the guard down!"

"Devil. And we're back to having those 2 stage something!"

"But those 2 are the lesser of 2 evils, ya know?"

"Sheesh!"

"Beware… The Ing strike back!"

"Stop bringing up random stuff!"

"Heh, heh, heh. Let's allow our speaker fellow to continue. And in the meanwhile… Off I go! Hah!"

Ganondorf released inside of Subaru's ass and then picked a string of anal beads with a ring at the end of the string: he began to insert them and closed the ring on Subaru's cock so that his cock's bulging and movement would be pulling them in: Subaru groaned as Ganondorf picked a vibrator next and stuffed it inside of Subaru too.

"N-no more…! These things will tear me apart…!"

"Submit to the Dark Side and become my apprentice!"

"Like Hell!"

"Heh, heh, heh. Stubborn, aren't cha? Oh well. I've got some surprises in store for the renegade and those guys… Let's see them vent off their bad mood in my pets, shall we?"

"YO! YO! YO! Hey! It's Torus Malignus! What's up, man?"

"BURO~! What did ya call the great me~?" Ox growled.

"Torus Malignus!"

"What the fuck is THAT?"

"Evil Bull!"

"Bull! I'm an OX! OX! My name is OX!" He growled back.

"YO! YO! YO! Warus Rockus – samus says otherwise~!" Moon Disaster seemed to shrug.

"BURO~! The fucking meddling rascal! Show your hide! If you're not a damned coward!"

"Did ya call, Valencia Bull?" War Rock laughed.

"BURO~! I'm going to rip you to shreds! I have enough with my horns and fire~!"

"Bring it on, Bullying Man!"

"BURO~!"

"STOP ALREADY!" Cepheus growled.

"Whoa! FM King! Majesty!" Ox gasped in fear.

"What, cha? Ya came to steal my spotlight?"

"Your friend is missing, he might be suffering and the BEST you can do is FOOL around?" Cepheus scolded.

_Good point! When will you do something USEFUL? We'll have to TALK once I get outta this Hell! _Subaru inwardly cursed.

"Got no patience to search there and there!"

"Ah no? Then maybe I better tell Vadous to shut you in the server?"

"Grah! Akatsuki told ya!"

"Indeed he did!"

"What's going on NOW?" Vadous growled.

"You called the guy? Run for your hide and smile~!"

_What a lame rhyme! That the BEST you can do, Rock?_

"Sheesh. When I get my hands into the lil rascal…!" Vadous fumed out of built up frustration and annoyance.

"Did the 3 Musketeers recover?"

"Yeah. The wounds weren't that grave. Some 10 hours of auto-repairs and redesigning the armor's strength were enough… Now they're reviewing the battle data to be ready for the next encounter."

"And, by the way, this is live. I've got an antenna intercepting their exchanges 'cause I've placed invisible Voltic Eye Viruses there and there to gather info. Heh, heh, heh." Ganondorf chuckled.

"Like I care…! Go broom the yard…!"

"Broom the yard? Why not. Let's invent Broom Wizard."

"How lame!"

"All housewives will buy it and I'll be a MILLIONAIRE!"

"Sheesh."

"Heh, heh, heh. However… You're but an _aperitif_… The main dish has yet to begin… Sink into despair and hopelessness! Mwah, hah, hah!"

_Shit! And who is the main dish? Tsukasa – kun? Gino – kun? Damn it all!_

08:43 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Well, you 3… How is it going like?"

"We've made some progress in the training. We're taking a break. Any news out there?"

"The latest data unit transmission log led to Iwate Prefecture, close to Hokkaido yet I'm sure it's a dead end to try to divert our attention elsewhere… No… I'm convinced that our answer is indeed in south-western Japan…"

"I see. Well. We'll just have to keep poking there and there."

Vadous was speaking with Omega over the radio as he read some data displayed on one of the command bridge's screens: it suddenly frizzled and the face of a Night Baron showed up there.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah."

"Shit. This rascal again. Who the hell are you?"

"… I'm you lowlife! You lowlife's shadow…!" The Night Baron replied with obvious arrogance.

"Why do I feel like I've heard that before?" Vadous grumbled.

"I've come to make you lowlifes regret your betrayal! On the Beyond!"

"Oh yeah? Impress, you megalomaniac leftover rascal."

"SHEESH! Go, Fenrirs!"

"AU~H!"

"What now, wolf-men?"

"Not exactly, boss… Half-dead wolves… The skin and muscle has fallen apart in some spots and you can see its bones and insides. Rather gross in my opinion." Omega grumbled.

"Eat these!"

"Charged shotgun shot!"

"What's going on?" Acid Ace asked as he showed up on one screen.

"Forgot you guys were coming over… Another invasion! All hands: repel the invasion! Black Ace: door lock!"

"Doors locked. New hacking attempt detected."

"Always going for the same trick? That won't help you win."

"Bah! I've got plenty of means!"

"Buro~! I've come to help too!" Ox Fire exclaimed.

"Eat this, you lot!" Harp Note fumed.

"Did you like my fan hysteria show?" The Night Baron laughed.

"Very exciting." She drily replied.

"So?"

"Go carp. Go sell _takoyaki_ in Oosaka."

"Buro~! I'll turn ya into a _yakiotoko_!"

"Roasted man, eh? Only for flesh-eating neophytes!" The Night Baron came up with some lame motto.

"Sheesh." Acid Ace grumbled.

"There some bigger baddies here! Black-colored, bigger, and more aggressive… And tougher to beat!" Sigma warned.

"Eat these! Stormin' Bolts!"

"Spinning Spear!"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Struggle, struggle AND STRUGGLE~! The great me am invincible~! Genius! Supreme! Magnificent!"

"Yeah, yeah. Sure, sure."

"Skeptical lot, eh? How about this? Go, Hunters!"

"You never tire of using those, do you?"

"Never the everlasting ever!"

"Never say never again." Acid Ace shot back.

"Heh, heh, heh. Your doom's coming closer, lil girl!"

"You shut up. _Lolicon_."

"Tell that to Phantom Black: the guy kidnapped your precious spoiled girl buddy twice, ya know!" The Night Baron laughed.

"Signal tracing… 3 control passwords detected…"

"Input these: "Queen", "Empire", "Palace"… Each one with a Capital letter at the beginning and in Alphabet…" Vadous ordered.

"Roger. Passwords inputted… Control granted."

"OK! Mine!"

"What? Uwah!"

The Night Baron seemingly froze as Vadous quickly typed commands into the console: several files seemed to be transferred out of the Night Baron and into the computer.

"Perform security scan: store all of them in a quarantine directory before allowing them into the main storage!"

"Acknowledged."

"Signal jammers: on!"

"Roger. Signal jammers: on."

"The enemies are disconcerted and lack coordination! What's more: they're attacking each other!" Omega reported.

"Obviously. They depend on the signals emitted by the Denpa Body to properly function in group."

"Warning. UAV incoming from SSE. 100 units."

"100! What's in their missiles?"

"The same "fog" used in the WAXA strike."

"I knew it, damn it. Bubble shield: on! Is there any important satellite or Wave Road in an 800 meters radius or height?" Vadous grumbled before issuing orders.

"Negative. Space is free of objects save for approaching UAVs. Currently 730 meters away from HQ."

"Good. Fire the "Copy Canceller": I'm sure they're Denpa Bodies." He guessed aloud.

"Affirmative. All of them are Denpa Bodies. 5 seconds to firing."

"They can't get here in less than 18 seconds at this rate." Acid calculated in the meanwhile.

"Sufficient time. Perform IR and X-Ray and dimensional scans of anything in a 1 kilometer radius: in all directions! There could be a stealth squad hoping to catch me with the pants down."

"Speaking of UAVs… Did you figure out something from the one that you retrieved the other day?"

"Kir Osh spent 6 hours dissecting it. It was stolen off the JSDF about 2 weeks ago but the JSDF didn't report it for fear of a scandal. They pretended that they were defective units and returned to the factory that had produced them. The control signal came from a JSDF satellite but all logs were already erased by the time we found out."

"Sheesh. The JSDF…! Scandal, scandal…! What about national security, huh?" Acid Ace sighed.

"Buro~! Stubborn guys." Ox Fire muttered.

"What about _sensei_?"

"Ah. Queen Tia. We managed to hack into her Hunter – VG and we extracted the Denpa – Henkan program to replace it with a fake that appears to be the same thing at a superficial look. Last time I checked she wasn't a genius hacker so…" Acid Ace replied.

"Confirming destruction of all UAVs."

"Good job. There aren't any others?"

"Negative."

"Keep the shield on just in case. The culprit could try to use "hyper-space" to have them drop on us all of a sudden…"

"Roger."

"Let's see what was in this damned punk… Hmmm… Control programs, talk program, emitter, receiver, self-destruct device, core, memory, power cables… Receiver's data… Remaining log… Tokushima Prefecture? We're getting closer, yeah. I'm sure it's on that area." Vadous began to check out the files.

"Night Baron Denpa Body repelled by Bubble Shield. Destruction confirmed."

"Eat that. You get that for butting here twice."

"Buro~! I'm gonna beat that Phantom Black jerk!"

"Don't get confident. You'll have to get past Shinobi first." Omega scolded Ox Fire with some annoyance.

"P-pass…" He gulped.

"Sheesh." Acid Ace sighed.

"Gonta – kun… Try to show some more courage, will ya?"

"S-sorry, Misora – chan… Man…. I need some spices…"

"Speaking of Luna – chan… We should keep an eye out too: they could try to use her as bait or something like that."

"Wouldn't surprise me, coming from Hyde… We'll handle that." Acid Ace calmly replied.

"I'll need some time to fully analyze the data."

"Let's go back. We're advancing slowly but surely…! Hang on! Subaru!"

14: 45 (Taiwan Time)…

"… But I've really got to commend you! I'd never seen you use such tactics before, Shinobi!"

"I am grateful, my Lord. I sacrificed food and sleep to train again and again until I achieved new revolutionary tactics."

"That's my loyal foreign valet!"

"… Roger, my Lord…"

"Hmmm? What's the matter?"

"N-nothing, my Lord! Shall I got get you the head of Akatsuki?"

"Don't bother! I'll pick it myself!"

"R-roger."

"Hum. So you've improved somewhat, it'd seem…"

"Hmpf!"

"Oi, oi… How many times do we need to go over this?"

Hyde was congratulating Shinobi inside of a living room somewhere made of steel and having an armchair, a side-table, a large holographic screen in front of it and nothing else: Shinobi sighed when Hyde brought up the "valet" title again but he then tried to come up with something to divert his attention elsewhere: Phantom tried to start a chat with Assassin but it merely folded its arms and looked offended: Phantom sighed and was seemingly getting tired of the whole deal.

"Bah! Mind not the circus, Phantom! They will only make a lot of noise, after all."

"Circus? Sheesh."

"Hmpf!"

"Sheesh. Go train in the simulator!"

"Hmpf!"

Assassin flew off while Hyde rubbed his hands in excitement: Phantom sighed as he seemingly predicted further trouble.

"Hyde~… Don't get cocky~…"

"I'm getting amused! Let us continue where we left off! You can go away by now. I'll call if needed."

"Roger."

Shinobi bowed, stood up, and walked out followed by Phantom: they both looked backwards as they exited the room: Hyde drew his Mu Star Carrier and inputted commands: a 3D orchestra formed and began to interpret what seemed to be some national anthem but it was totally off synchro and only created what seemed to be, at the best, a parody of it to begin with: both sighed and Shinobi shut the door.

"Hyde~… The guy will NEVER realize that this is not his stuff. He should play some board game instead." Phantom sighed.

"Guess that." Shinobi muttered.

"I'm off to checking up with our own Security Wizards. We don't want the damned Night Baron to spy on us, anyway."

"Of course."

Shinobi headed off into another room that only had a mattress on the floor and little else: he pulled off his balaclava to reveal his whole face: he did look around Subaru's age and his hair grew in a chaotic manner forming spikes.

"Phew. I needed to vent off my head from time to time. Anyway… Ever since those guys did that to me… Guess that guy must be staying far away so as to not to cross paths with me… Whatever. Your role ended a long time ago, anyway." He muttered.

"Attention all personnel."

"What's that?"

"The Grand Conductor shall declare the opening of…"

"Sheesh."

"…the immortal rising dancing tuning singing alluding Vienna National Orchestra…"

"Those titles were needless." He grumbled.

"Rise, my orchestra! Rise over the ashes and ruins of the plebeian Vienna: we shall rebuild the noble and prideful Vienna, feared all across the old continent! Rise, my armies! Spirits of national pride~!" Hyde began to chant using the speakers.

"Oh come on. Someone shower Master with cold water. The last thing I needed, truly."

"Hyde~… When will ya quit with this scandal? You want people to hear to it so badly… Then why don't you encode-beam those into radio repeaters and cause some confusion amongst the guys out there? At this rate we'll all go mad." Phantom grumbled.

"Hum! This time around you had a point, half-hired evening tabloid emissary."

"Save me the extravagant titles. Got no need for them!"

"Fine! Then you handle that."

"Yeah, yeah."

"… I'm the ghost in the machine~…" A familiar voice echoed across the whole place.

"Kurayami? Impossible! You lowlife are locked up!"

"Seems like it's a recording left behind."

"And I'm the big sis in the machine~…" Another voice added.

"And now that Kanaya lil girl too! I knew it: they were up to no good, messing up with the systems!"

"Can't be helped: they owned this thing longer than we did… So they had time to set up their own systems."

"Sheesh!"

"Complain to Mr. Universe."

"Be quiet! Send that signal! Now!"

"Yes, yes. Just wait a couple minutes, will you?"

"You better do your job properly, you syndical!" Hyde grumbled and seemed to be extremely impatient.

"A bird once said… "Birds!"… And thus the birds came to be." Kurayami's pre-recorded voice chuckled.

"Not bad, Ku. It's my turn to shine! A gal once said… "It!"… And "it" came to be."

"Oh come on. Ka… Isn't that a bit too gross or pervert?"

"Hmmm… Maybe. Let's try something else. A pine tree said "pine tree!" and pine trees came to be." Kanaya rectified.

"That's better."

"How absurd." Shinobi growled.

"Shi-no-bi!"

"Yikes!"

Shinobi rushed over to Hyde's room and stood there while Hyde rubbed his hands and seemed to have another of his "bright" ideas given the smug grin: Shinobi sighed.

"You'll be the court buffoon!"

"Master! I'm a prideful _ninja_! Not a commoner!"

"Hyde~… Build a 3D one for your entertainment."

"Isn't that signal done yet?"

"Do you want those 3 to come storm us?"

"Eh… No!"

"Then wait a bit: the stronger the encoding the harder they'll have it to trace it all the way here." Phantom sighed.

"Alright, alright! By the way: Shinobi…"

"Y-yes, my Lord?"

"Hmmm…" He looked suspicious about something.

"What is it?" He gulped.

"I seem to have the vague feeling I've been waiting to ask something but now I can't remember what it was about. Maybe it was nothing important to begin with…?" He frowned and tried to remember.

"Eh… Dunno, my Lord."

"Whatever. Just go shave your chest."

"HUH? A-alright. Don't have any chest hair yet though…" He muttered to himself with some defeatism.

"Hmmm? Did you say something?"

"N-nothing, my Lord! As you command!"

Shinobi rushed back to his room and sat cross-legged on the floor while sighing and slapping his forehead in defeat.

"Lovely. Maybe I should've waited a few more days, even. Luck wants to be ironic with me."

"There. Done. Go ahead." Phantom sighed.

"Listen up, you decaying Vienna lot! My ghostly armies shall sweep the ground with you lot on it! And Vienna shall go back to its old formal and grand glory~!" Hyde exclaimed.

"Sheesh. When will they leave me alone and grant me some time to properly meditate? Else I can't focus on my next battle!"

"Welcome to the club, man. If only life was easier… Oh boy."

_That asides… Night Baron! We're coming for your neck! Heh, heh, heh…!_


	11. Chapter 11: Stained snow

**Chapter 11: Stained snow**

12:52 PM (Japan Time), Saturday December the 15th…

"… Akatsuki? You there?"

"What's up, Udenoude?"

"A box with some documents has been delivered…"

"I expected it."

"Alright. Here it is."

"You hadn't told me, Shidou."

"Chut! Follow me."

"… Alright."

Akatsuki got a box with some documents on it delivered by one of the Commandos so he picked it and headed elsewhere while Acid brought up that he wasn't informed: Akatsuki told him to follow him in a whisper and they entered a small office: he shut the door and then brought out a folder with some documents, graphs and photographs on it: he began to read them.

"… Just as I thought…"

"This is…? But then…?" Acid gasped.

"Chut! Not a word to anyone. I've been doing this without telling the higher-ups. We don't want this info to leak, do we?"

"Obviously."

"They can scold me all they want but… In the end they'll see that I've done the right thing."

"I can't believe I've been so…"

"Blind? Yeah. I feel the same."

"When do we act?"

"Soon. As soon as possible."

"Alright."

"Shidou –chan? Are you there~?"

Akatsuki gasped and quickly stuffed everything inside of the box to then place it inside of a locker that he locked with a padlock: he then discreetly exited the small office and whistled a tune as he reached the hall and met with Dr. Yoiri.

"Ah. There you were. Did you know?"

"What?" He rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Well, you see… I've been nominated to receive the Noleb Award of Science." She smiled.

"Noleb? Wasn't it Nobel?"

"Indeed." Acid confirmed.

"The Academy of Incredible Science grants it."

"Why do I feel like it's a troll?"

"A troll? The fearsome monster?" Utagai suddenly blurted.

"Sheesh. A prankster!" Cygnus corrected.

"T-then… The curse of…?"

"Warussss Rockusss – samussss…"

"UGRYA~H!"

Utagai ran off as someone hissed a name while deliberately prolonging the "s" sounds: Cygnus fumed as War Rock popped out of an air duct while laughing.

"Yo! Acid Disaster! Did the fan-girls shriek today?"

"That was - RUDE!"

"RUDE! Ruthless! Ultimate! Destroying! Evil!"

"How original."

"My, my. Rock – chan. How about you try to hunt for some clues out there that will help us find Subaru – chan?"

"… Fine~… Or else Subari~ will get mad at me."

He warped out and everyone sighed in relief: there was a ping somewhere near them and a female Commando came out of a room while looking left and right as if looking for someone or something.

"Ah! Akatsuki – kun. I was looking for ya."

"What's up?"

"My Hunter – VG's been acting funny as of late so I was wondering if you could help me fix it…" She admitted.

"Alright. Let's have a look, Acid."

"Roger."

"Well, well. I better go get some Loosening Tea."

"Loosening Agony. And it was a music band. Hakase." Acid dully corrected her.

"My, my. One's memory… Heh, heh, heh!"

Akatsuki followed the Commando along a corridor and into a room where several other Commandos were seemingly having a break and chatting amongst them: she picked her Hunter – VG from the desk and handed it over to Akatsuki: he interacted with it.

"Hmmm… Root files: OK… GUI files: OK… Wireless: error. Check it out, Acid… Maybe it's some glitch."

"Roger."

Acid began to exchange signals with the Hunter – VG and it suddenly pitched before emitting a sound like steam being outputted: a grumbling could be faintly heard and it suddenly became a bit louder: there was faint background music too.

"Warning. Someone is manipulating this unit's wireless capabilities to hack into it pretending to be a WAXA safety program. It surely is the handiwork of the Night Baron."

"What!" Everyone gasped.

"Mwah, hah, hah. Ready to eat burgers, my chums?" A Night Baron showed up onscreen.

"Burgers?" Everyone asked.

"Beware! "To remain inconspicuous, he'll keep disposing of his safe tiles… Just waiting for this round to end…"…"

"I fail to see the point. If there is any."

"Well said, Mr. Speaker of governmental intentions!"

"Sheesh."

"So then… Eat as many burgers as you can!"

"That sounds like something Gonta would do… Wait… Didn't he do something like that before…? Before he joined the "Raid Troop", of course… Acid! Look it up."

"Roger."

"Look up Queen Tia's "b" size!"

"You pervert!" The 3 or 4 female Commandos snapped.

"I feel flattered."

"Sheesh."

"Uh-oh." The 5 or 6 male Commandos gulped.

"The descent of the Evil God Ge!"

"Ge? That a name?"

"Yesss… My preciouss… We want it, my preciouss…"

"Oh come on. That sounds disgusting."

"Akatuski! Some weird freak things are assaulting the Yaeba Resort: customers have had to be sheltered on the hotel and the Battle Wizards are holding them off!"

"That's it! Gourmet Town! The "eat-as-much-as-you-can" contest: when Ox's residual Denpa went berserk and triggered an accidental "Denpa – Henkan"…!" Akatsuki recalled.

"Indeed."

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Roger!"

Everyone ran out and they found Utagai looking around, confused, at the activity around them.

"W-what happened? Another air raid?"

"No." Cygnus merely replied.

"Come with us, Utagai – san. We need you to lend us a hand. If all goes well then you might be able to ski for free."

"Ski? B-b-b-but… I'm no good at it!"

"Oh whatever. Then buy something at Gourmet Town. Point is: we gotta get there on the triple."

"A-alright…"

"And on the quadruple?" Cygnus suggested.

"If you want to put it that way…" Acid didn't seem to mind.

"Be careful, you two." The Chief warned them.

"We will, Chief. Go!"

"Kya~h! I forgot my prayer beads!"

"That'll come later!"

"My prayer beads! I'm doomed! Kya~h!"

13:33 PM (Japan Time)…

"… So… Where are the freaks?"

"On the ski slopes, it'd seem…"

"Fine. Let's go say hi and bye."

"I'm scared!"

"Just aim properly."

"Or else you end up as prey for the Globsters!"

"Kya~h!"

"Oh man."

Both Acid Ace and Cygnus Wing reached the resort and began to look around before the Night Baron showed up atop a building of Gourmet Town to taunt them: some noises rang out as Utagai freaked out and Akatsuki sighed.

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh… How about this? Until the Cygnus didn't say "feathers!" there weren't feathered Cygnus!"

"Is that t-true, Cygnus?"

"Sheesh. Of course not!"

"There ya are! Rawr!"

"What! My cape~!"

"Confess, ugly~!"

"Well, if it isn't Warus Rockus – samus!"

"I don't give a crap for that anymore! Fight me~!"

"Fine. I'll deny you!"

War Rock suddenly showed up behind the Night Baron and swept his claws to cut through the cape: the Night Baron tried to taunt War Rock but he didn't fall for that so they began to chase each other.

"C-careful! S-something's coming!"

"Ugh. Gross."

The "Globsters" mentioned by the Night Baron had the appearance of an amorphous blob with pinkish skin and a large, toothy mouth on their undersides.

They had no eyes, noses, arms, legs or ears.

They moved by undulating their bodies but they crawled at a snail's pace nevertheless.

"Analysis suggests they may move faster underwater and they handle it better on that environment." Acid suggested.

"Fine. Let's be glad they're so slow on the surface. Eat his! Count Bomb X and get lost."

"W-what do I do?"

"Sheesh. Fly up and scout the area!"

"A-alright."

"Let's put some safety distance!"

"Roger."

Acid Ace threw 3 Count Bomb X inside of some of the freaks' mouths and told Cygnus Wing to fly up: the enemies blew up from the inside and Acid Ace rushed into Gourmet Town to see the state of things: he found a replica of Gonta's Nanska Village stone statue.

"Sheesh. That was shameful."

"On the contrary: it was thrillin' and ringin'!" Another Night Baron showed up from behind it, laughing.

"Now you wanna play rhymes?"

"Yeah! The cave-cousin can't beat such a cave-brother!"

"How original!"

"I feel praised, my chum enchanted by Uncle Sam." He made a mockery of a reverence.

"I s-see the invisible demons!" Cygnus Wing yelped.

"Sheesh. The Hunters next. As always!"

"Always and always make up the ways-al!"

"Ways-al? What's that supposed to be?"

"Dunno. Maybe a curse."

"I KNEW IT!" Cygnus Wing gasped.

"Sheesh."

"Bull Island: defeated!"

"What? Bull Island? It's "Ox Island", you know!" Acid Ace exasperatedly corrected.

"Heh, heh, heh! I'm a genius!"

"Hmpf. I wonder about that. Maybe you've got sand in the head? Or rice grains?"

"… Korra~h! Korra~h! Ra~h!"

"Mugro~h! Damn it all!"

War Rock was making mincemeat of the other Night Baron and it collapsed into the ground right next to Acid Ace, having wounds leaking data: the mask had been shred revealing a normal Wizard's face beneath it: the other Night Baron fumed a drew a Single Action Army: it aimed it at the beaten Night Baron and shot the six rounds on it as its head: the head got deleted followed by the body.

"This unit was too weak. Weak have no place in the Secret Empire: let there be glory to the Secret Empire!" It proclaimed.

"Ah! Burai. Just in time."

"Burai! Not again! Die~!"

The Night Baron spun around and drew a double-barreled shotgun yet there wasn't anyone there: Acid Ace took the chance to turn on his Blade Wing and ram into the guy to then plunge a Long Sword through its back: the sword pierced through the core and Acid Ace jumped away before it got deleted too.

"Buro~! Burn, you lot!" Ox Fire began to fight the Hunters.

"Forgot about those… Utagai – san! Continue the sky surveillance: we'll do something about this lot."

"R-roger!"

"Akatsuki… Did you crave your own grave yet?" Queen Tia suddenly jacked into his radio and sounded threatening.

"Well, who knows? Maybe that Night Baron rascal hasn't given me enough time to do it?" He didn't seem to be impressed.

He made a "silence" sign that was surely intended for Acid so Acid made no comment: Acid Ace resumed shooting at the Hunters while Queen Tia seemed to be building up further bad mood.

"My patience is long yet it has an end!"

"Don't tell me. Like I didn't know that already."

"What was that?"

"Dunno. Ask your vanity."

"Akatsuki…!"

"Why do you need to orbit around me, anyway? I know I was the one that tried to get you out of Dealer yet… It turned out you'd eventually quit Dealer on your own. So my dramatics were rather unnecessary." He began to comment as if wanting her to say something.

"Obviously enough!"

"Ah. Then I must pretty dense."

"Hmpf! Men. They're all the same."

"Guilty by association?"

"Hmpf."

"Guess that."

"Akatsuki…! You choose… A grave… Or endless pain…" She tried to sound threatening but couldn't focus on that.

"I'd rather my own choice: I ignore you."

"You dare…!"

"Oh. I dare."

"Acid."

"Roger. Scrambler: on!"

"AKATSU… KZZZZZ!" She got cut off.

"Man. _Sensei_ is TOO SCARY." Ox Fire gulped.

"Buro~… Guess that. But I prefer that cold blood over Virgo's hysterical laughter and her cruelty." Ox muttered.

"The enemy numbers have fallen below 20!" Cygnus Wing spotted as he patrolled the air.

"Good. We'll soon be done here. I've got job pending at the HQ. And a "sweet candy" too…" He grinned.

"Shidou…" Acid sighed.

"What. Not like I'm gonna get fat from those!"

"How many times have we had this argument, anyway?" Acid was rather exasperated by now.

"Dunno. I'm surprised you lost count of them. Maybe you didn't file them away because you found it to be irrelevant?"

"I suppose that. Huff."

_Well. The Night Baron asides… I'm getting closer to "it" as well… Indeed…_

19:48 PM (Japan Time)…

"… I'm - BEATEN!"

"Luna – chan… It wasn't that much of a deal."

"Be quiet, Mode!"

"Fine. But then don't say I didn't warn you."

"Let's call Subaru – kun: he needs to keep Rock Man – sama out of danger or else he gets hurt!"

"But, Luna – chan… Have you forgotten?"

"Huh? What?"

Luna dropped her head and arms atop her work desk in her bedroom and sighed in defeat: Mode hovered next to her and didn't share Luna's exaggerated defeatism: she began to dial a number on the Hunter – VG while fuming but Mode interrupted her.

"He was kidnapped about 2 weeks ago!"

"W-what? That for real?"

"Sheesh. Where have you had your mind at? Didn't you find it odd that he didn't come at the school?"

"I thought he had the flu!"

"Thought, thought… You could've listened to the others' talk: about how the Satella Police is moving Earth and sea to find him…"

"Oh well! He'll find a way out… Being the somewhat crappy boy he is, anyway… But, if his idiocies make Rock Man – sama lose a battle…! I won't ever forgive him for weakening MY Rock Man – sama, my PRECIOUS Rock Man – sama, my PRINCE Rock Man – sama!"

"LU-NA~!"

"YIKES!"

"I heard that!"

Ms. Shirogane rushed in and Luna turned white from fear: her mother loomed over her with an extremely irritated look to her face: Mode sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Will you stop distorting reality?"

"B-but, mom!"

"I don't care if it feeds your "fantasy world" but when that begins to get in the way of your day-to-day routine and behavior… Then that's when it gets worrying! You'll need some psycho-therapy!"

"E~H! NO WAY~!"

"Way! I'll see to it! Caring so little for your friend: he who rescued you from danger so many times…! And then saying it's his fault for getting kidnapped: like he wanted to! You yourself were kidnapped twice: did you want for that to happen or what?"

"W-well, no, but of course, b-b-but…!"

"No "buts"! End of the tale! Like it or not, your "Rock Man – sama" is a fantasy! He is your classmate Subaru – kun! Get down to Earth, stop floating around the Moon! Sheesh! Naruo! Your choice of name for our daughter was ill! She spends the whole day in the Moon! Maybe if we'd named you "Athena" instead! If we'd done that then maybe you'd use your WISDOM!" She began to ramble.

She stormed off as if going to discuss it with her husband and Luna remained shocked and paralyzed until her Hunter – VG rang and she instinctively pressed the "reply" button: a "Real Wave" screen formed and the face of a Night Baron showed up there.

"So! Miss Moon! What it'll be?"

"Huh? Who are ya? The cocktail bar owner?"

"Huh? Cocktail bar owner? First-timer." The Night Baron seemed surprised by her naming.

"That's the culprit!" Mode exclaimed.

"Ruin Mode: on! We're all ruined!"

"How rude, mister!" Mode got annoyed too.

"Blame my imagination!"

"The culprit of… what? Of selling cocktails to the teachers?" Luna hadn't caught up yet.

"Selling cocktails to the teachers? You DO live in the Moon, lil miss! Mwah, hah, hah, hah!"

"Sheesh."

"So! Who is Athena?"

"Dunno! Must like antennas."

"Athena, not Antenna!" Mode scolded.

"That for real?"

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?" Mode got really annoyed.

"Whoa! I'm listening!"

"WELL, FRANKLY ENOUGH, YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE IT!"

"Calm down!"

"Interesting, by my beard." The Night Baron actually rubbed its chin with the right hand.

"Go sell cocktails in Shiisaa Island!"

"Truly. Before that, though…"

"What? You want my autograph?"

"Well, why not. Since we're at it, missy… Let's go to a "D" and have some fun… I've got someone who'd like to learn it from you."

"HUH? I didn't get any of that. Is that a spy message or what?"

"Spy message! Of course not, missy." He laughed.

"Where is Subaru – kun?"

"Dunno. Maybe in Hell?"

"E~H?"

"Or in the _makai_."

"That's not an answer!"

"It is. According to my evil, blessed and repulsive rules, that is. Blame Mr. Moon Ace for coming up with them!"

"Moon Disaster, I say!"

"Who?"

"Oh come on! You NEVER pay attention, Luna – chan?"

"W-well…"

"What happened to your rank as Student Council President?" She exasperatedly asked her.

"A-ah! W-well… T-that's, y-you s-see…" She began to blurt without thinking.

"Sheesh. What a girl!"

"Heh, heh, heh. Maybe someone could show you the ropes? Your former icy teacher?"

"Icy teacher? Who?"

"Queen Tia – sensei…" Mode sighed.

"Was there such a teacher?"

"Of course! Back in 2004! Jack is her little brother!"

"Ah! Of course! The dark-skinned gigantic foreign lady."

"No~… If she hears that she'll get furious…" Mode sighed.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! Oh, don't worry… I'll tell her I came up with it!"

"What do you gain from that, anyway?"

"Good question, my dear Ruin Mode."

"Stop with the nicknames, I say!"

"My bad. Anyway… What I gain? To see her true hide: her true annoyed face, to break her prideful mask of ice…"

"You're a leech or what?"

"Maybe so. Leech Baron."

"Night is better, thank you." She sighed in defeat once again.

"What the heck is this about, anyway?"

"HE kidnapped Subaru – kun! Gotcha?"

"Huh? Ah! So cha are the culprit! Spit it out! Or I'll bring down your company in the next 5 minutes!"

"I don't have one to begin with." He shrugged.

"Oh crap."

"Too bad, Miss Moonie~!"

"T-this MAN!"

"Delighted. Oho. It'd seem my guest recalls my attention so you'll have to excuse me for today. Look forward to some Bloody Maries. Shake it and rumble it 'till it rumbles and shakes!"

"How original." Mode sighed.

The transmission finally ended: Luna began to pace around the bedroom while cursing something undecipherable while Mode sighed: she heard Luna's parents having a discussion in the living room too.

"Lovely. Could this get any crazier?"

"GIVE ME BACK MY PRINCE, YA DECAYING NOBLEMAN!"

_Sheesh. Behave already, Luna – chan! What a prospect! Dear me!_


	12. Chapter 12: River pollution

**Chapter 12: River pollution**

06:56 AM (Japan Time), Sunday December the 16th…

"… Unh… Gruh… Huh!"

"Morning, my cutie~…"

"Shit. What day is it today, Ganondorf!"

"Sunday. The 16th."

"What! This night…!"

"Will mark the 14th day ever since I brought you here, yeah."

"Shit. Huh? Ah!"

"Heh, heh, heh. Fine. Try it, try it. Else it wouldn't be fun."

ZA~P!

"UGRA~H!"

"Gotcha."

Subaru had woken up inside of the mysterious location where he was being held prisoner: Ganondorf, dressed only with a pair of brown shorts, was sitting in a nearby chair: Subaru demanded to know the day and Ganondorf snickered: Subaru suddenly realized that he wasn't tied anymore and that all of the sex tools had been removed: he only had the leather collar around his neck so he quickly leapt out the bed and tried to run north but collided with an invisible obstacle that electrocuted him when he tried to go beyond the square's north pillars: he collapsed on his knees, panting, while Ganondorf merely folded his arms.

"S-shit… DIE~!"

"Oho."

Ganondorf got to his feet all of a sudden and jumped sideways to dodge Subaru who'd come running and extending his hands forward as if trying to grip his neck: he collided with the chair and ended up on the floor.

"Fuck. I'll kill you yet, you fucking rascal!"

"Come anytime, Albert." He snickered.

"RA~H!"

Subaru got to his feet again and tried to deliver punches to Ganondorf yet he seemed to foresee each of his movements to dodge by moving the head sideways, duck, or jump one or two meters backwards: Subaru delivered a fist to his right shoulder but Ganondorf merely chuckled and delivered a kick into Subaru's balls: the blow made Subaru collapse on his knees and clutch them out of instinct: Ganondorf merely walked 5 meters away and folded his arms as if waiting for Subaru to recover: Subaru looked up with a glare filled with hatred: he got to his feet and ran forward while seemingly ignoring the earlier blow: Ganondorf whistled a tune as he easily dodged each of Subaru's attack attempts: Subaru was starting to pant his movements got sloppy and slow.

"S-shit…!"

"Heh, heh, heh. Too many days of being unable to move do have an effect on your body, you know."

"Coward! Leftover! Proxy!"

"I'M NO LEFTOVER, DAMN YOU!"

Ganondorf got pissed off all of a sudden and charged for Subaru but he ducked and rammed into Ganondorf's navel area with his head: the blow stunned him for a few seconds and Subaru delivered a kick to Ganondorf's balls this time around: Ganondorf also collapsed and Subaru began to kick his face several times before jumping and landing atop his torso: Ganondorf ended up face-up on the floor and skid one or two meters away, dropping a key of some sort along with a remote before groaning and apparently fainting: Subaru picked those and pressed the remote's first of 3 unlabelled buttons: there was a hum and a blue energy field became visible, encompassing the whole of the square: the 2nd button he pressed shut it down so he rushed away.

"Let's get out while I can."

He rushed forward but the scenery wouldn't change and the lack of light made it really hard to judge the scale of the place: all squares were identical and there were no signs at all.

"Shit. Who builds a place like this?" He wondered aloud.

He kept on running but had to stop to catch his breath: he glanced at the pillar he was leaning in and found some faint fluorescent letters written on it so he had a closer look.

"Wing 04, Section 08… If "wing" means the whole width of this row I'm at then… I must be another 3 or 4 rows away… And if this tile is "Section 08" then… Maybe each row is 16 tiles long? And I'm standing right on the middle… Problem is… What if it turns out that the "wing" I was at happened to be "wing 0"? Then I'm getting nowhere? Ridiculous: there must be at least one entrance and exit!" He began to deduce aloud while fuming.

He kept on running and crossed another "wing": he checked the pillar and found another inscription.

"Wing 03! Good! Like this… Let's hurry. That rascal could be coming anytime by now."

He kept on rushing forward and finally found what he'd been longing for: the first wall: and it had two doors belonging to an elevator plus a key slot at their right: he inserted the key and spun it yet nothing happened: he frowned and tried again.

"Shit. What now!"

"… I cut off the power…" An icy voice with a hint of anger rang out very close by.

"Shit! Eat this!"

"Enough cat and mouse… I'll teach you the consequences of defying me, you damned brat… You'll regret drawing out my true anger…!"

Ganondorf appeared from the right while looking furious and pissed off: Subaru tossed the key at his forehead to stun him.

"Uack!"

He then ran off to the left and stumbled upon the perimeter wall so he ran south alongside it: he could hear Ganondorf running around but being seemingly disoriented.

"There's no point in hiding! You can't hide forever!"

"That's what you think." Subaru muttered under his breath.

"… Here am I, offering my precious time and you waste it by running away… Incompetence surrounds me!"

"Hmpf. You underestimate the Subspace and the Satella Police. It's your problem for wanting to wage war against them."

"Self-righteous fools! Ignorant cretins! Don't you lot ever tire of failing in your mission?" He began to blurt.

"Hmpf…"

Subaru kept on running and found some writing on that same wall so he stopped to read it.

"Emergency elevator: all the way south. Wing 16. I guess I was at Wing 08, then… I'm half-way across… Maybe the emergency elevator doesn't have its power cut off… Or maybe it's the true exit!"

He kept on running down the wings while he heard Ganondorf run across the space only to stop and change directions every thrice or twice yet the sound of his footsteps (he'd seemingly put shoes on) rang out across the whole place.

"… Your feeble attempts only delay the inevitable! I can't lose! Not to you!"

"Hmpf. You'll lose one way or another."

"Are you trying to make me angry?"

"You're the one who won't accept reality."

"Let's finish this!"

"And I don't want to?" He sarcastically muttered.

Subaru finally reached the opposite wall and headed for the center: there was an open elevator there the light of which was off yet the control panel was on: he quickly pressed the "1F" button and the doors closed: the elevator headed upwards.

"Let's not lower the guard. There could be another floor like this or a locked door. Maybe the door hasn't been used in ages and it'll take a lot of effort to open. I'll have to find the means to stop the elevator from being recalled, too."

The elevator pinged and Subaru saw how the doors opened to reveal a large room (but not as gigantic as the basement) filled with rusted equipment, decaying desks and chairs and other stuff: the windows were sealed with bricks and so was the door about 8 meters ahead of him: he cursed and quickly picked one of the chairs to block the elevator's doors and impede its recalling: he rushed to the sealed door and glued his ear to the bricks.

"Huh… This sound…? Seagulls…? Waves…? I'm near the sea… I wonder if my brain implant's signal works… Unless this concrete jams all signals as well… But I was right. The reason this elevator works is because the culprit knew it couldn't be used to escape! Shit. What now?"

"Now you get to see the true _Naraku_~!"

"What? Uwack!"

Ganondorf suddenly showed up apparently out of nowhere and struck Subaru's head from behind with a steel bar he got out of somewhere: Subaru collapsed, knocked out, into the floor, while Ganondorf panted and growled.

"Shit. I tried to make a fun show and it turned out like this. Lucky for me there were emergency stairs leading here too! Bah. Another few days and my strategy will be finished, anyway. Let's send out some entertainment to keep those guys busy while I wrap everything up."

_As for you…! 24 hours of fucking machine! I'll break you down yet!_

13:33 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Phew. I managed to get the day free: Urakata – san decided I was working under too much stress."

"Pororon. Feels hot despite it being December, ya know?"

"Well. Yeah. Shiisaa Island is normally warm. Max temperatures at December can reach 21 Celsius. And they normally don't go below 18 or 17 Celsius either."

"Pororon. I see."

"Huh? Why. I see someone suspicious bathing there, near the dragon statue… Let's try to get closer."

"Pororon. Alright."

Misora had come to the Shiisaa Island beach while wearing a one-piece black swimsuit that looked like a school swimsuit: she sported simplistic brown sandals for footing and a straw hat: she'd been sunbathing in one hammock when she observed a figure swimming around the dragon statue mini-island while apparently examining it.

"Let's go."

She left the sandals on the beach and calmly stepped into the sea: she quickly swam towards there and hid beneath the platform of the sea-view road.

"Ah! I knew it. It's Shinobi!"

"Pororon. Then the _lolicon_ mustn't be far from here."

"… Get out already! Assassin! It's not like it's my fault that there aren't sheep here!" Shinobi was yelling.

"Sheep?" Harp wondered.

"Assassin seems to be like to slaughter sheep. What are you expecting of a Denpa Body with such a name, anyway?"

"Pororon. Nothing good."

Shinobi had a pair of blue and black swimming trunks on as he swam in circles around the statue and called out for Assassin: there was no reply so he grumbled and climbed into the base of the statue from the right to be invisible from the beach.

"Sheesh. Master says: "my Hyde Instinct tells me the Night Baron is at the Shiisaa Island Castle's basement!"… And there isn't one! I came here to scout in vain. And now this guy gets pissed off at me. Who the hell programmed the guy to be so prideful, anyway? And Phantom was telling Master: "Hyde~… Do you really think that the Satella Police didn't check the place already~?"…" He began to grumble as he quoted.

"Pororon! Gotta admit that Phantom guy had a point. Like Strong wouldn't realize about that." Harp muttered.

"True…" Misora whispered back.

"Shinobi, my foreign valet! Did you find the service entrance?" Hyde asked over a radio device built on a wrist-ring.

"No, Master. There isn't one. And there isn't a basement! That Strong guy would've noticed AGES ago, anyway!"

"What! Ah! How can it be? My Hyde Instinct failed? Ah! The damned afternoon tabloid envoys!"

"You made that up right there, Hyde~…"

"Oh be quiet!"

"Fine~… But I warned ya~…"

"Anyway! If you need to find a spouse then you must be in fitting condition so swim around and sun-bathe!"

"S-spouse~? Me~?" He gasped.

"This ain't Denmark, Hyde~…"

"Be quiet! This is Neo Vienna!"

"Neo Vienna now? Oh come on."

"Neo Vienna, how original…" The three of them muttered with obvious annoyance.

"Huh? Did you say something?"

"N-no! As you desire!"

"Fine! And find me a Mirror Ball."

"What's that?"

"Dunno! Ask some local."

"Hyde~… Isn't it obvious that that "Mirror Ball" is but nonsense mailed to you by the Night Baron to cloud your mind? Can't you catch something so blatantly obvious?" Phantom sighed.

"Be quiet, you half-paid Claudius envoy!"

"Oi. I've got nothing to do with the usurper king."

"You usurped the throne! Draw your sword, fiend!"

"Sheesh. Now he believes he's Hamlet? Shinobi… Stay away for some hours: it'll do well for your sanity… and your safety, too. This guy is capable of forcing ya to duel saying ya are Laertes." Phantom warned Shinobi.

"Fine. Guess it's the wisest thing to do right now. If only I could lure the guy outta here…"

"Your Denpa Body has gone off again? Man. Tell the guy that he can slaughter hammer sharks." Phantom told him.

"Fine… Oi! Assassin! If you slaughter hammer sharks then you'll become the most feared Denpa Body ever!" Shinobi called out.

"… _Shumokuzamee_?" Assassin asked.

"Yeah! Hammer sharks, AKA hammerhead sharks!"

"_Korosuuuuu!_"

Assassin jumped out and flew towards the ocean.

"O-oi! But wait for me~! Man. That didn't come out as expected. What now? Wait for the guy to come back?"

"Guess that."

"Found you, Claudius! _En garde_!" Hyde exclaimed.

"Sheesh. Later."

"Huh… Later."

The transmission ended so Shinobi sighed and sat down on the edge of the platform while placing his feet inside of the water: he looked tired and beaten, for once.

"I need a shelter to shelter myself from the madness. And Master would benefit of some therapy for hyper-activity. If the Satella Police couldn't find the rascal in 2 weeks, how can we?" He sighed.

"… Huff… Fine… I've heard enough. Let's pull out." Misora whispered to Harp.

"Pororon."

She quietly swam away and returned to the beach: she made sure no – one was looking and put on a blonde wig she drew from her handbag plus a couple of sunglasses.

"There. With my "Veronica" ID I can ditch the fans. I don't want to be surrounded by a mob of them. You remain inside of the Hunter – VG as well, Harp, just to be safe."

"Pororon. Alright."

"… Hey. Handsome. Wanna hang out?"

"Hmmm?"

Misora looked at how a random girl on her 20s with blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a blue two-piece swimsuit was trying to invite Shinobi to hang out but he apparently played deaf.

"Oi. Can't you hear me?"

"Maybe it's a foreigner." Another girl called out.

"Hadn't thought of that. _Hi there~… Cutie~_…"

Shinobi kept on playing deaf while Misora rolled her eyes under the sunglasses.

"You see too many cheap series." She muttered.

"Obviously. Pororon."

"Maybe he doesn't know English? He strikes to me as Asian but maybe he's Chinese?"

"Well. No problem. I'll use my Wizard as translator."

"I think that it's better for you to leave him alone. He doesn't look like he's in the mood to speak with anyone. Maybe he's depressed." The other girl seemed to be careful.

"Meh! Meek gal. I'll show cha how it's done like."

"Fine. But then don't say I didn't warn ya."

"… _Chiiii… Korosuuuu… REDRUMMMMM…_"

"KYA~H! THERE'S A GHOST! MOMMY~!"

"Show me how it's done, alright…"

A creepy voice rang out all of a sudden and the pesky girl swam away at top speed while her pal sighed and seemed to have been expecting a similar end to the deal.

"I'M GONNA COMPLAIN TO THE VISITOR CENTER!"

"Yeah, yeah. Like they'll listen to ya."

"WHADDYA MEAN?"

"Ya should begin by stopping to act like a fan-girl."

"BRING IT ON, CHA SKINNY RIVAL!"

_Oh come on. The madness chases us all across the world? Sheesh._

16:56 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Oi. You. Fatman."

"Ushijima!"

"Oh yeah? Well. Got a message for ya from ya number one non-fan."

"What's that, Nangoku – san?"

"Dunno. It just says "river pollution due to avenging meats"…"

"A-avenging meats? The ghost of the roast beef!"

"Buro~! Stop saying idiocies, Gonta!"

"B-b-b-b-but…"

"No "buts"!"

Gonta had been sitting in one of the swings in Kodama Town's main square when Nangoku approached him: he firstly called him by the infamous nickname so Gonta corrected him: Nangoku shrugged and told him he had a message from someone: when he quoted the message Gonta turned white and blurted some idiocy so Ox popped out to scold him.

"Kya~h!" A woman shrieked close by.

"What was that?" Gonta wondered.

"Dunno." Nangoku shrugged.

"Ugra~h!" A man yelled next.

"Some terror film? Ghost Crisis III?" Gonta tried to guess aloud without catching on.

"Don't think so… Buro~…"

"I'll commend ya yet! Toro!"

"My name is - OX! You damned masked rascal!"

"I feel praised, by Sakaki!"

A Night Baron showed up next atop the Big Wave store and taunted Ox so he got annoyed.

"River pollution indeed! Have a look!"

"What! Piranhas?"

Some fish were swimming down the river and sometimes jumped out of the water.

They were grayish in coloring and had a gigantic mouth with powerful teeth thus it gave off the impression of being a piranha.

"Heh, heh, heh! They can eat through large mammals, bones and all, in mere seconds! Including bulls."

"BURO~!"

"Found you… Pay for your sins with your flesh!"

"Huh? Wha!"

Burai suddenly showed up behind the Night Baron and punched its back so it fell into the river only to be devoured by the fishes in mere seconds: Burai was unimpressed while Ox, Gonta and Nangoku were white from fear by now.

"R-run!"

"Ugra~h!"

"BURO~!"

"Damn it. This is why I always have a backup stationed close by! This time you'll become their prey, Burai!" Another Night Baron announced as it landed behind him.

"Try it."

"Hra~h!"

Burai merely warped out of his position as the second Night Baron ran forward with both hands extended as if wanting to push him down.

"Huh? Ugra~h!"

The second Night Baron also became the food of the fishes while Burai shrugged and looked bored: he quickly drew the Laplace Blade and aimed it at the neck of a third one that had been about to sneak on him: the Night Baron stopped.

"Such antiques… You lowlife must be an old-timer."

"OLD-TIMER! ME!"

"Begin tracing…" He whispered.

"Roger…" Akatsuki replied.

"Old-timer, gramps, old man, mad scientist, Super Villain wannabe and Demon Tribe Chief wannabe…" He began to list to further annoy the Night Baron.

"Grrr…!" It began to grumble.

"… Oh yeah. I knew was forgetting a few ones. Coward. Residue. Pirate. Ectoplasm. Smallpox sequel. Corsair. Lunatic. Executioner. Butcher. Mosquito. Renegade." He began to snicker next.

"T-this PUNK!"

"Pretty Uncanny Null Koala." He made up a title.

"KOALA? ME?"

"Proxy. Use – and – throw – pawn."

"Pawn! Me! I'm the best agent ever! IQ – sama tasked me with tasks that no other could accomplish! I serve IQ – sama forever, even in death! Eat that back, you brat!"

"I wonder about that." Vadous snickered.

"VADOUSSSS!"

"Show me your moves, Sidious."

"You're asking for it, you bastard!"

"… Ehime Prefecture… We can't get any further. But I feel like we're slowly closing in… That'll be enough, Burai." Akatsuki whispered.

"I agree. Go all out."

"Delighted."

"What was that, huh?"

"Someone came to fire you: the smug bitch did."

"MUGRA~H!"

Burai merely ducked as he pulled the blade away only to make a swift motion to slice the waist of the Night Baron away: both halves fell into the river as the last batch of fishes swam down it and ate it away: Burai sighed and stretched as the Laplace Blade orbited around him as if to keep any new attempts at bay.

"Guess he's given up for today. The fishes are gone." Vadous muttered as he seemingly scanned the area.

"I'll go have a look at Ehime Prefecture. It might turn out nothing but it's worth a quick sweep."

"Do as you like. I'll mobilize Blood Shadow there to make sure the guy doesn't come for more…!"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! I know it! Nangoku Ken! You lowlife are the Night Baron! Thus you die!"

"WHA~?"

"Shit. Oi! You lowlife. Bite me."

"BURAI~!"

Phantom Black suddenly showed up in front of the Big Wave Store while grinning and laughing: he pointed his stick at Nangoku, who'd just come back, and he gasped: Burai called out to him and he immediately went into rage mode.

"I knew it." Phantom sighed.

"I'll rip you to pieces!"

"Try it, weakling."

"Phantom…!"

"Slow."

THUD! PTAF! PTOF! CRASH! SPLASH!

"Ugra~h! The current's too strong! Damn it all, you plebeian! PHANTOM BACK WILL BE BACK!"

Phantom Black jumped to Burai's position (a Wave Road over the river) and tried to start his "Phantom Slash" but Burai was faster and delivered a few blows before dropping him into the river where he was washed away by the current.

"Rubbish. Weak. Not worth my time…"

Burai warped out as Omega appeared on the scene: Nangoku looked like he didn't understand any of what had happened or he seemed to think that he'd dreamt it all.

"Huh… Man! Too many _mojito_… Need to a take a break from those. I really do…" He sighed.

He headed back inside of the store only to issue some profanations one moment later: Omega frowned and dropped down right next to the store to try to figure out what was going on.

"You~! _Chibi_! You took profit of the scandal and stole 10 Wide Wave Battle Cards! Wait 'till I get my hands on you~!"

"Sheesh. Cancer Bubble messed it up: last thing we needed…! Or maybe it's the lion imbecile trying to blame Cancer Bubble. Someone should put a stop to that hyperactive lion imbecile."

"The revenge of the surfing board!" Nangoku exclaimed.

"How lame."

_Hard to believe it's been 2 weeks…! We must hurry or else…! Damn them!_


	13. Chapter 13: Godly envoys

**Chapter 13: Godly envoys**

06:43 AM (Chile Time), Monday December the 17th…

"… Nanska! The rooster sang! A new day begins!"

"Nanska!

"Nanska!"

"Nanska!"

"Good, good! Let us offer our prayers to Gontaga – sama!"

"Gontaga – sama~! Gontaga – sama~!"

"Good, good! Today will be a good day, too!"

"I wonder about that, kasnan!"

"W-what! Who is there?"

"Your doom!"

The Nanska Village people had gathered around their central square with the large monument on it: the chieftain was directing the prayers towards Gonta's giant stone statue when a Night Baron showed up atop it and laughed.

"Witness! The godly envoys!"

"W-what?"

Several copies of the Mu Denpa Bodies Yeti, Condor and Brachio formed there and began to surround them: everyone gasped.

"Become their food!"

"W-what!"

"Someone might object. Hah!"

"What!"

"Surprised, ugliness?"

"Akatsuki~!"

"Same guy."

Acid Ace suddenly showed up there and sliced through several of the Denpa Bodies as he dashed in mid-air: he was joined by Goat Kung-fu who kicked several of them, Cancer Bubble who trapped them in a bubble and Wolf Forest who slashed through them.

"How did you find me?"

"We had a hunch. We've been monitoring the place and saw you roam around the ruins." Acid Ace shrugged.

"Damn it all."

"Too bad, ugliness. Your surprise attack didn't go as scheduled: how's that for payback, ugliness?"

"Ugliness! Me! I'm handsome!"

"You look like a residual Red-haired League Member to me." Vadous taunted over Acid Ace's radio.

"Wha~t? A billion blistering barnacles!"

"Charmed."

"Sheesh."

"So? You must live in a cave. Cave-leftover."

"I AIN'T A LEFTOVER! VADOUS!"

"Prove it. Fight me." Vadous challenged.

"Sheesh! Go to Hell!"

"If only you'd show me the road…"

"Shock Note!"

"Goat Kick!"

"Wolf Claw!"

"Shit. These things are frail!" The Night Baron cursed upon seeing how the Mu Denpa Bodies were being easily beaten.

"Mass copies are always frail." Vadous taunted.

"Like these proxies."

"Sheesh."

"The other day was proof enough, I daresay."

"Nyagra~h! First the guy had to run off and all that ensued and then I went through such disgrace!"

"Fate must be punishing you. Or Maria is punishing you for not getting her out of prison. She must be having another paranoid attack: maybe she thinks you're PSB. Public Security Bureau. Japan Secret Police. How about that?" Vadous snickered.

"By all the… I knew Their Grace had some random moods but to these ends…! That won't do! But acting now is a fool's choice: you're expecting me to! Nah! I'll strike from an unexpected angle! He who laughs last laughs better, Vadous!"

"I wonder about that. It's so repetitive…"

"Sheesh!"

"Huh? Incoming Hunters!" Wolf Forest warned.

"Bring it on!" Goat Kung-fu taunted.

"Eat these! Machinegun Strings!"

"Wild Tail!"

"Kung-fu Smash!"

The Hunters came in place of the Mu Denpa Bodies but soon began to run into trouble given the intense attacking they were receiving: the Night Baron growled and then lifted its hands towards the sky.

"I'll show you a GOD!"

"Coming?"

"Mugro~h…"

Ra Mu descended from the sky at a slow and steady pace before it landed on the adjacent area with the gigantic lines: the 3 defenders rushed over there and quickly dodged a sweep with its both hands: it formed the giant drills and shot them around while it summoned Erand Soldiers to keep them busy.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah! STRUGGLE~!"

"Maybe your toys will complain?" Vadous challenged.

"Heh, heh, heh. Go ahead. I'm going to give that behemoth a lesson again in the meanwhile. Omega Laser!"

"What?"

Acid Ace jumped into the fray and attacked Ra Mu: it growled and shot a powerful beam from its chest plate yet the defenders dodged or blocked it before focusing on the Erand Soldiers again: the Night Baron was surprised by a comment Vadous made.

"What do you mean?"

"Well. Dunno. Ask your local fortune-teller."

"Sheesh."

Something whistled and an UAV came into view: it headed straight for Ra Mu but it was too busy handling the four attackers to take notice of it: the UAV impacted into the chest plate and the explosion of it blew it up into many shards: Ra Mu transformed into its second form and its attack began to get more aggressive: the Night Baron gasped as it seemingly tried to understand what had happened.

"Where did that…? Ah! One of the ones used when I attacked the WAXA building…! You captured one?" He gasped.

"Indeed. I decided to use it. Attack the core when it shows the afterimage of the OOPArt, guys!"

"Roger!"

"Sheesh. Bah. Anyway… Soon things will turn interesting… I've got many aces under my sleeves."

"You never give it up, do you?" Vadous grumbled.

"Nope. I'm as stubborn as Colonel Ilkor."

"Mugro~h…"

"Sheesh. We're running into trouble here, Vadous!"

"What? Ah!"

Acid Ace was grumbling as he and Harp Note tried to hold on against the renewed attacks: Goat Kung-fu and Wolf Forest were knocked out and the Erand Soldiers were closing into the group.

"Omega!"

"Roger. Copy canceller!"

Omega dropped into the fray and fired his "Copy Canceller" to wipe off all Erand Soldiers in the immediate radius: he then drew his saber, jumped and plunged it into Ra Mu's forehead: the attack momentarily paralyzed the behemoth as Omega drew his gun and shot at the exposed core, melting through the defenses: the behemoth began to be deleted.

"Damn it. I'm off!" The Night Baron growled.

It flew higher into the air only to be pierced through by a Giza Wheel X shot by Acid Ace from the ground: the Night Baron growled and got deleted while Acid Ace grinned.

"Maybe I should join the sniper team." He joked.

"Sheesh." Harp Note sighed.

"Shidou…" Acid scolded.

"Well. Why not." Omega shrugged.

_Alright, my fellow… It's about time we got in the move… Let's go!_

19:45 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Huh… Unh… Huh?"

_W-where am I…? I can't see… I can't speak…! I'm naked…? What are these excited voices around me…? I don't understand…! Am I in a foreign country? But what happened? I went to the store's basement and then… Then what? The voices are rising in volume…! _

"…kun…"

_Someone pulls me with a rope tied to a collar on my neck… My hands are cuffed behind my back… And I've got cuffs on my ankles with a chain linking them too! Don't tell me I'm in a prison!_

"…Tsu…sa…kun…"

_Cold ground…? Soft ground…? Car engine…? Inside of a car…? Someone talking and laughing? W-what's going on? It stops? They drag me outside…? Down some stairs…? Into a room…? More voices…? The air feels cold…? _

"Tsukasa – kun! Tsukasa – kun!"

_Someone pulls my arms up and attaches something to my handcuffs? They keep my arms up? But what's going on? Wait! What's that sound behind me…? Someone's breathing…? _

"Wake up! Tsukasa – kun! Wake up!"

_W-what's this thing pushing against my ass? A man's… penis? A man is going to… rape me? No! Stop! Someone! Save me! Uah! It's pushing inside: it won't fit! It won't fit! Stop it! _

SPLASH!

"Uwah! Cold!"

"At last!"

"G… Gino – kun…? W-what happened?"

"That's what I'd like to know!"

Tsukasa had been sleeping and stirring while leaning his head atop his room's desk with his school notebook open and some text half-written there with a textbook to its left: Kiboyama had come in and tried to wake him up but he wouldn't react so he picked a bottle of cold water set atop the desk and splashed his face with some of it: Tsukasa woke up, gasping, and looked around, confused.

"Futaba – kun? Are you alright?" Lartes stepped into the room.

"Dr. Lartes? Eh… I'm not sure."

"Your chip implant was giving off worrisome EEG readouts: were you having a nightmare or something like that? You've sweated a lot too and your heartbeats increased."

"… Ah… Yes, sir… It's… well. You know. Sir." He hung his head down and replied.

"Ah. I understand. But see there, Futaba – kun… If you want to be strong in life… You must face those traumas that haunt you… And tell them they're busted. Pretend it was nothing. You could also say you never lost hope that you'd get out of that. Subaru never lost hope on meeting his father again despite the slim chances of it… And it happened." Lartes sat down on a chair in front of Tsukasa, sighing, and placing his right hand over his shoulder.

"Is that so?" He gasped.

"Yes. And you know he desperately searched for you, too. He never gave it up: he was convinced that he'd find you. No matter what. And we did find you."

"Subaru – kun… He believed in me so much despite…" He began to mutter only to trail off.

"You can't call what happened 3 years ago "betrayal"… It was Hikaru's fault for wanting to hurt Subaru trying to make it look like you were plotting against him… You were never guilty, Futaba – kun. Subaru understood that. You redeemed by trying to stop Gemini from assaulting him in the Communications Module."

"… I see…"

"Su Casa~! I'm ringing your home~!" War Rock suddenly flew in and came up with a lame joke.

"War Rock. You seem eager to spend a while in the server." Lartes drily told him while directing a dull glare to him.

War Rock turned white and he heard rushed footsteps so he flew off, chased by another guy.

"Give me back my tool-box!"

"Sheesh. Now the guy steals Kir Osh's tool-box?"

Kir Osh, the chaser, had blonde hair and emerald green eye irises.

He was about Vadous' and Lartes' age and sported armor similar to that of Vadous.

It had a purple Alphabet "K" letter as its chest emblem plus a sword sheath.

"Catch me, Nameless Pharaoh! Bring out Exodia!"

"What's that?" Kiboyama wondered.

"Something Sigma dug up out of who knows where!"

"Sheesh. Why doesn't he do digital archeology for a hobby instead of useless pranks and jokes?" Tsukasa sighed.

"I'll have a talk with Boss."

"PWE~T! The 66th of cavalry's arrived!"

"66th of cavalry, how original!" They all complained.

"What's with the ruckus? Not you again." Miles complained.

"You never stop quiet, do you?" Storm complained next.

"Catch me, 66th of cavalry newbie duo!"

"NEWBIE? WE TWO? WAIT THERE, YOU!" Both got pissed off.

"Oh boy."

"The _samba _club is on the move! Mirror Ball _aniki_ says he'll step over you guys with his magnificent steps!"

"T-THIS JERK!"

"Catch me~!"

ZA~P!

"Mugra~h!"

THUD!

"How's my EM weapon like, huh? It's useful to stop rampaging idiots like you or Sigma." Omega fumed.

"Y-ya jerk…!"

"Into the server you go. Transfer!"

"Gra~h!"

"At last! Some peace." Omega sighed.

"Yeah. I've shut the guy down. Should've done so AGES ago but being so busy with this…" Vadous sighed.

"Anyway… I've got the feeling that the rascal gave it up too quick today and the other day… I feel like it's a hint of something." Omega commented in the meanwhile.

"Maybe so. Let's keep the guard up. Continue searching nearby prefectures and we'll keep on using the ping system on the repeaters: I feel like we must hurry."

"Just in case, Boss… You know?"

"… Ah. Yeah. You never know. I'll send out orders."

Kiboyama and Tsukasa frowned while Lartes seemed to inwardly grumble as if he didn't want them to hear that exchange: he stood up and sighed while wiping off his glasses.

"Call me if more symptoms like those show up."

"R-roger, sir."

Lartes walked out at a quick pace and they heard him clear his throat as if warning Omega: Vadous grumbled something under his breath yet it was picked by the mike and seemed to realize his mistake.

"I'm coming up there. You come as well."

"Fine."

"How odd. Has this ever happened before?" Tsukasa asked.

"No…"

"Say… There are times in which Vadous – san and the trio are away for days or even weeks… They say they go to a base in the Bermudas to train yet… Maybe there's more to it?"

"Maybe it's just paranoia."

"Could be, yeah. Oh well."

"YO! YO! YO! This Mexican Moon, broadcasting to all _lucha libre_ fans out there! The Moon _Lucha Libre_ Tournament has opened! Join me in all kind of stylistic and extravagant battles! YO! YO! YO!" Moon Disaster began to broadcast through the Hunter-VGs.

"Free Fighting? Sheesh."

"Not you too…! Shut up or I'm locking you up!" Vadous growled back to Moon Disaster.

"YO! _Shachou_! A fella says that someone might crash!"

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"YO! YO! YO! Dunno! It's the enigma of the decade!" Moon Disaster laughed back.

"FINE! I'LL LOCK YOU UP TOO! O-ME-GA!"

_Oh come on. Be quiet already! These guys… Sheesh! They never learn!_

23:43 PM (Japan Time)…

"… So? Have you gotten the lesson? Or have you broken down? In any of the cases… The result will be the same."

"Hmmm!"

"Hmpf! You got it coming for the mess of the other day. 24 hours of the table and now another 24 hours of column! And no release either: only pain! Pain… Pain!"

"Hmmm!"

Ganondorf was looming over Subaru as he was being tortured without stop by the column machine: he was blindfolded and had the ball-gag on: he was drooling as well while Ganondorf snickered.

"Hmpf. I better get moving with the preparations."

He walked north thus leaving Subaru there and turned on the elevator by opening a hidden panel that hid the switch: he stepped into it and climbed into the surface: he exited into a modern-looking control center with several large-scale computers interlinked between them: the 4 corners of the room had tall capsules with a body made of black glass.

The southern end of the room had a couple of armored doors leading somewhere else and the room used some portable low-power cold lamps to provide illumination asides from that of the computers and machines: Ganondorf sat in an armchair behind a control panel and began to input commands using it.

"Let's program the message to reach them in 6 hours' time. By the time they come I'll be far, far away. You couldn't defeat me in the end, Vadous… And if you couldn't now, in the prologue, you won't be able to defeat me in the main chapter… That's the price you pay for betraying the great and magnificent IQ – sama!" He muttered.

He inputted some commands and brought up a 3D map that showed several rooms leading to a single corridor: this corridor then led to a main room with other corridors extending from it.

"I had a checked 4 weeks ago. But it won't hurt to have another check to have it all up and running. Security is on place, maintenance works 24/7 and all systems work. The main system has enough energy sources to properly work too."

After inputting some more commands he stood up and opened one of the doors to come out from the western side into a poorly lightened room: it had a small door on the lower right corner and the windows were all sealed: there was a spiraling metallic stair climbing upwards: Ganondorf climbed it up and reached a vast room that had a large machine covered by some plastic covers on the center of it: the place seemed to be atop a hill or a mountain because the light of a small city could be seen not too far away from there.

"Heh. They didn't notice anything. As expected. Surely nobody remembers that this place exists, even. It hasn't worked for decades. It's been left to fall apart. Because, otherwise, this tightly guarded secret would be exposed and the point of it would be lost… Let's hack sensors and figure out what the cops are up to…"

He drew a Hunter – VG and inputted commands: live imagery came in of Akatsuki going over some documents in a rush along with Acid: the camera was too far to make out what the documents were about but some of them had some photos and graphs.

"Bah. Some witness reports, I guess. No harm there. They'll surely be chaotic given how I've spawned Night Barons across the whole of Japan to further confuse them."

"… Alright, Acid. Tomorrow we must tackle this affair. But we must be discrete or else the point of it will be wasted."

"I know."

"Heh! It's already wasted. You're surely going to investigate some report out there and hope to catch some clue… No chance! I'm too subtle and skilled for that."

He drew a box of cigarettes and lighted one.

"Ah. I needed one… Let's see~… Are the guys in the Command Room savoring utter despair and hopelessness? Or are they still clinging into their ever-decaying "hope"? Heh!"

He switched cameras to see Heartless talking with Dr. Yoiri, the Chief, Daigo and Amachi.

"I searched a facility Mr. King used to own but there was nothing in there, sadly enough. I thought it was a good choice given how so few people knew about it yet…" She sighed.

"Let's not despair yet." The Chief tried to rally.

"That's easy to say, Chief… I know we were rather clueless at the start of Subaru's disappearance back after the Meteor G deal but we solved that because there were more clues lying around… And that was a necessary thing as well…" Daigo sighed.

"Last winter went smoothly because it was something unplanned for and thus there was no time to properly hide the evidence… If only we weren't dealing with such an overwhelmingly powerful enemy…" Amachi sighed next.

"I hope that child is alright… I miss his optimistic smiles. He always had the ability to cheer us up when we felt down."

"Speaking of children and all… Queen Tia. We should make a move regarding her soon, shouldn't we?" The Chief brought up.

"I think Shidou – chan will handle that. It's personal."

"Obviously. But we can't leave her roaming around loose anymore: we have reports that two girls have been missing in a 1 kilometer radius from her "place"… Too much of a coincidence."

"Say, Chief… Can't the normal police do anything to begin with?" Daigo brought up.

"They've tried but Queen Tia's "Denpa – Henkan" is too much for them to handle and thus, legally, what happens there falls under our competence so… We need to begin by removing that."

"Hmpf. Yeah. Get rid of that skinny woman… To think that woman dares to laugh at the work of IQ – sama…! My blood boils but then again my attack of some days ago was in vain. Bah. They'll eventually do something about that, anyway."

BEEP!

"Huh? Ah! A mail has been sent and the automated system transmitted it to me… Excellent, excellent… Let's see… That guy, yeah… They'll soon be ready to start operations… By the dates I said… There are one or two loose ends to be tackled first… Start might be delayed a bit… No big consequence either…" He read aloud.

He then looked at the ground level and saw a figure carrying a flashlight and apparently patrolling the area.

"The usual patrol policeman… No problem… They all think this place is totally sealed up and impossible to access… How blind they are! But that turned out to be advantageous to me."

"… A Satanic spell of doom and death and…!" Utagai had, in the meanwhile, rushed to the Command Room and began to relate something he'd seen or heard.

"It's another prank! Man! When will you learn to see through them? You shouldn't be so superstitious!" Daigo scolded.

"How many times do we need to go over this?" Cygnus grumbled next, fed up with the tale.

"W-well, I don't know." He gulped.

"YIKES!" An operator yelped.

"A mouse-trap?"

"Yes, sir…! Inside of the card-key slot…! I tried to see why the card-key didn't get in and I found this! OUCH!"

"Lovely. Sigma had time to drop these here."

"Or Moon Disaster too."

"Sheesh."

"Heh! In-fighting, eh? Take that for a change."

"Chief! Reports of Wolf Forest rampaging across the Wave Roads: it'd seem it's almost full moon and thus…"

"Sheesh. Send Akatsuki – kun there!"

"Roger! Akatsuki – san: emergency! Stop the rampage of Wolf Forest in Kodama Town Wave Road!"

"… Man. Acknowledged. Let's go, Acid!"

"Roger."

"Heh, heh, heh. The Wolverine descendant brings shame and humiliation to the family, eh?"

The screen now displayed Wolf Forest rampaging across a Wave Road despite the attempts by the Battle Wizards to contain him: Acid Ace made it to the scene and shot a "Daba Flame" attack at Wolf Forest, momentarily stunning him: he then emitted a continuous red beam of energy that made the Denpa – Henkan unstable: he caught him and brought him down to the ground as the transformation got cancelled: Ogami collapsed into the ground, panting, along with Wolf.

"Oi! Ogami – san! You should know that transforming on full moon is a bad idea. Did you forget or what?"

"Huh… My bad, fella… I forgot… Thought it was new moon…" Ogami admitted.

"I was telling you that but then you went mad and I couldn't control the situation either…!" Wolf grumbled.

"Enough."

The screen shut down and Ganondorf finished the cigarette: he stored it on a small cylindrical container and smirked.

"See ya, Satella Police… I'll be waitin', Vadous… Nyah, hah, hah, hah, hah!"


	14. Chapter 14: Defeat and victory

**Chapter 14: Defeat and victory**

06:15 AM (Japan Time), Tuesday December the 18th…

"… So this is the place?"

"According to the email we received…"

"So our culprit got tired of cat – and – mouse? It's obviously a trap but I don't care. I'm fed up."

"Me too."

"And me too!"

"… Alright. The 3 of us should suffice: we've got the Musketeers on standby so… Goal: the lighthouse atop the hill… Let's go! Raid Troop: on the move!"

"OK!"

Acid Ace, Burai and Harp Note had been chatting as they climbed up a hill growing in the southern end of an island somewhere: a worn down lighthouse building could be spotted atop the hill along with a worn down road winding up until there: they rushed it up and reached the lighthouse's base entrance: a simple metallic door with a sign reading "DANGER! ENTRANCE FORBIDDEN!" yet the door had traces of having been opened more than once.

"This is Kuroshima, a solitary island in Kagoshima Prefecture. We were right in believing the location was in the west."

"Yeah. But we only found it because the culprit bothered to send us a mail with the exact coordinates: it reached us about 15 minutes ago. Luckily you two are early risers." Acid Ace told the other two.

"I couldn't sleep. I'm having trouble sleeping as of late: the pressure of _sensei_ and Subaru – kun's condition…"

"Hmpf… A warrior must rise early and be ready for an attack at anytime: the enemy won't wait for you to be ready. I'll take care of any proxies that come out." Burai grumbled.

"Let's go! Hrah!"

Acid Ace rammed into the door with his left shoulder and it jolted: he then pulled it away and they entered the small ground floor room: they formed flashlights to scan the walls: the far wall had an opening that led to a room yet it was sealed up: the west wall had the doors leading to the control center Ganondorf had been at last night.

"The west! Go!"

They rammed the doors to the ground and stepped into the control center only to find the whole of it burnt, destroyed, smashed and totally impossible to use: a flamethrower had been left on the ground along with empty gasoline cans, an axe, a large-sized hammer, a chainsaw, a shotgun and a machinegun plus a rocket launcher.

"By all the… What destruction! The guy was hell-bent on not leaving any data behind. The data salvage team will have to work extra hours this time around." Acid Ace cursed.

"Elevator!" Harp Note signaled.

"Alright! Let's go!"

"Yeah!"

They rode into the elevator and it descended into the underground room: they quickly drew their weapons but nothing came for them: a faint humming sound could be caught coming from further in.

"Satellite Search. There's a living signature further in. No data signatures detected in any spectrums. No explosives, no data links, no IR sensors, no trip-wires, no trap-bears… It would seem that the room is clean and devoid of any traps." Acid listed.

"Fine. I'll be point. You guys cover the flanks."

"Alright."

"No problem."

"Let's go!"

They rushed down the main wing and gasped when they stumbled upon Subaru tied to a wooden horse that could swing: it was continuously swinging front and back thus making Subaru's body rise and slide back along the two anal vibrators: he was hanging his head down and seemed to be unconscious.

"Quick!"

Acid Ace released his "Denpa – Henkan": Akatsuki rushed over to Subaru and undid the collar around his cock's base to then pull out the urethra vibrator: his cock bulged and let out several vigorous sprouts of semen that stained his body: Burai and Harp Note broke the ankle restrains and cut his ropes: Akatsuki lifted him and placed him face-up on the floor as they took out the rest of the stuff: removing the blindfold proved that Subaru was indeed unconscious and he seemed to have been in pain given how contracted his facial features were.

"Shit. Let's hope he's still in one piece." Akatsuki cursed.

"Hmmm? Hoshikawa's right forearm… There's something written in there using fluorescent pain…" Burai spotted.

"Let's see… It's all Alphabet letters… "AUTUMN"… _Aki_? "GUILD"… _Dougyou kumiai_… "12"… "TEN S."… Ten? The number 10? Or is it someone's surname? Dunno. "TWO LIGHT"… _Futatsu no hikari_? "LOCK – C"… Some codename?" Harp Note began to read while wondering aloud at some spots.

"Maybe it's a message intended for Vadous: a manifesto of a forthcoming crime." Acid suggested.

"Devil. Then we'll have to contact Vadous ASAP. Let's get him to the surface… Something to cover him…"

"There's a bed. Let's use these blankets." Harp Note spotted as she tugged them off.

"Good idea. Else he'll get the flu out there. Let's keep him inside of the command center because I saw a heating system there. You keep watch and I'll contact HQ."

"Fine."

"Let's go."

Akatsuki wrapped Subaru in the blankets and piggy-backed him towards the elevator: they returned to the surface and Acid interacted with a heating system to turn it on: Akatsuki came out of the room while the other released their transformations to sit next to Subaru: Misora took a photo of the writings and began to erase them.

"Alright. I sent the message to HQ: Vadous will provide portals for instant deployment. Let's bring Subaru to the hospital. Lartes has already headed there as well."

"Good."

"I took a photo of the writing."

"Good thinking. We'll be able to calmly analyze it later on to see what it means although Vadous sounded pretty nervous. Maybe it involves something in the Subspace dimension itself. Tabuu did activity there before and Mors was there too."

"It is reasonable."

"Huff, huff… Akatsuki: we've arrived! We'll bring Hoshikawa to the hospital." Ryuusuke ran in.

"Counting on you. Solo and Hibiki: please take care of the escorting. I've got something to wrap up."

"Ah. _Sensei_. Alright, good luck."

"Thanks. Later."

Akatsuki came out while Ryuusuke carried Subaru: Solo and Misora followed outside where a portal was opened right in front of the lighthouse entrance: Ryuusuke came in firstly.

"You go first." Misora invited.

"Fine."

"Da…"

"No. This is not a game."

Solo stepped in and Misora followed suit: the world became a white tunnel of energy extending towards the infinite across pitch-black space: a force gripped her body and she shot forward: the next second she'd come out of it in the WAXA Japan Branch yard: a helicopter was stationed there so they rode on it to head for the hospital.

"Hello there~? Do you want to have some fun? Come to this address, my gal!" A girl's voice rang out of her Hunter – VG.

"Haven't you noticed the police inspector following you for the last 45 minutes?" Misora shot back.

"UA~H!"

"Pororon. Number sent to the Satella Police."

"Well done."

"Hmpf… Mere rubbish…" Solo fumed.

"Mu…"

"What? _Serrano _ham now? Sheesh."

"But Denpa Bodies don't eat, right, Harp?"

"Porororon. Of course not. We're made of energy, ya know? We're walking energy, see."

"… Da…"

"See? An alien Denpa Body needs to remind you that. You've got no memory or you've got fish memory?" Solo sighed.

"Whoa! Look! Subaru – kun actually smiled!" Misora gasped.

"Maybe he unconsciously heard the joke and found it funny?" Solo wondered.

"Subaru – kun… Relax… The danger is over… Thank goodness…"

11:31 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Alright. No more games!"

"Akatsuki! So you came. Hmpf!"

"Indeed. Let's put an end to… this farce!"

"W-what are ya talking about?"

"Oh? What's with that dialect?"

"Oh heck!"

"It's useless to keep the play up, you fake. You've fooled us for two and a half years but this is as far as it comes… Anaya… Sofia!"

"Sheesh!"

Akatsuki burst into the office of "Queen Tia" only to signal her with the right index finger: she gasped and her composure got lost while she began to talk using another dialect: the woman fumed and her face suddenly became a black plastic-like mask covering all the way to the neck and having almost no features whatsoever.

"I see. An advanced skin recreation system… Even if one were to touch their face they'd believe that it's real skin." Acid guessed.

"Che!"

The imposter pulled the mask out to reveal her true face: she had brownish short hair and green eye irises: she could be on her mid-20s or beyond as well.

"How did you figure it out, huh?"

"Mere intuition. I was so taken aback that Queen Tia had turned so cold and hostile after she helped me recover after I emerged from hiding following Joker's self-destruct. At first I thought it was her _tsundere_ face, that is, that she wanted to pretend she didn't need anyone's help and she didn't want to acknowledge that. And it made sense so I didn't think much of it this whole time… Until recently. When things began to escalate."

"You mean that the culprit was running out of patience? Or did they think that if they kept at it too long near you, Shidou, you'd see through their disguise?" Acid guessed.

"Surely. What confirmed things, though, was the other day… When I said that you made Ice go berserk… You said you had."

"Queen Tia did it! Like she did it with Magnets and Strong!"

"Wrong! Jack did it. Queen Tia came later to pick up the "Crimson" resulting from Rock Man and Dia Iceburn's battle." Akatsuki corrected with a grin.

"I see." Acid muttered.

"W-what? Oh damn it! I skipped over that memory and thought that she always used the same pattern…"

"And you surely implanted a chip on Queen Tia, like the ones Subaru and Futaba have… So that you could see her memories and use them to easily impersonate her…"

There were some sounds on the outside so Sofia rushed out to the window to see female Satella Police Commandos rushing into the building while the Battle Wizards formed a perimeter around it as if to prevent anyone from escaping.

"Your business goes down now and here."

"Not so fast! Denpa – Henkan!"

Sofia drew her Hunter – VG and tried to use "Denpa – Henkan" but it didn't work: she looked at it, incredulous.

"I switched the programs. Your cousin Maria must be eager to tell you some things while you share the prison cell."

"Ah no! I'm not going to share a cell with that bitch!"

"Cousin dispute, huh?"

"Of course! I was going to do it but she jumped ahead of me!"

"Where is the REAL Queen Tia, Sofia?"

"Hmpf! Down there! My personal female pig. I used the implant to brainwash her into being a pig." She sneered.

"You're mad. Just like Maria."

"DO NOT PLACE ME IN THE SAME SHIP AS THAT BITCH!"

"No use denying it. You wanted to recreate what she did. But what she did was just using murder, blackmail, extortion and violence to force the clubs to work for her. When we removed her control they started to kill each other again, like always. So she didn't "build" anything: she just forced them to do as she wanted."

"Grrr! I'll make mincemeat of ya! Hiya~h!"

She tried to perform a _karate_ swing but Akatsuki dodged and she lost her balance because she tried to stretch the right arm and leg too forward: she met the floor just as two Commandos came in: they immobilized her as they handcuffed her.

"Anaya Sofia! You're under arrest for kidnappings, torturing, impersonation, confidential data theft, confidential data sales, illegal program usage, illegal device usage, brainwashing, laundering, extortion, blackmail and violence!" One of them listed.

"E~H? That large~?" She gasped.

"I'm sure the prosecutor can come up with another dozen as well: don't you agree, Akatsuki – kun?" The Commando added.

"Sure, miss."

"DAMN YOU ALL!"

"Yelling won't help you. Let's go to the police station. A court will soon be eager to trial you. And to send you to meet your precious cousin. Let's see you trying to prove who was better." The Commando announced next with a grin.

"I'LL HAVE CHA NECKS IN A SILVER PLATTER! BY MY MIGHT!"

"Shoo, shoo." Akatsuki wasn't impressed at all.

The 2 Commandos led her away while he sighed: another Commando came in next.

"We found Queen Tia. And the missing 12 girls. They'll all be sent to the hospital. Queen Tia will surely need some therapy to get rid of that idiotic brainwashing. Believe me: it's disgusting enough." She fumed as she explained the situation.

"I'll contact Lartes. He's the expert on those devices." Akatsuki calmly told her.

"Roger. Ah. HQ wants to know what's going on. You better report to them before they get annoyed."

"Don't worry. I'll handle that."

"OK! Later."

"Acid. Open a line with HQ."

"Roger."

"Not so fast, Akatsuki! The Night Baron was here, right! Tell me where they are~!"

"By all the… Hyde!"

Phantom Black suddenly showed up there, getting in through the window and looking around with expectation.

"The one who was here was a woman. Not a man. That Night Baron gotta be in Vienna, opening a club." He improvised.

"Ah! The bastard! Defiling my ancestors' home!"

"Hey… Hyde… But don't ya always say ya are a descendant of London's Hyde Mansion?" Phantom argued.

"Hyde Mansion stopped existing physically in the 16th century! Some of my ancestors then travelled to the continent and settled in Vienna, being the high-class city it's always been! You ignorant tabloid proxy!"

"Will ya quit it with the tabloids?"

"No, I shall not! By my hat!"

"Man."

"Tremble, Night Baron! My ancestors' spirits are with me~! This time I'll bury you lowlife in eternal "Dark"!"

Phantom Black flew out, laughing in his queer manner, while Akatsuki sighed in relief.

"Let's leave the guy to chase the rascal across the world in vain: I'm sure the guy's changed looks and name: and he has gone into the underground by now… Or else he can pretend to be a normal citizen in some far away city… Sheesh. 16 days of struggling and it ends like this. It feels so defeating, really… I know we saved Queen Tia but I'm to blame for not realizing it earlier." Akatsuki sighed.

"Indeed."

"Akatsuki – kun? What's going on?" The Chief asked.

"I'll explain in detail once I get there. But I had to carry out an operation to tie up the loose end."

"Ah! At last. Well done."

"Not so well done. Like I said, I'll explain the details in person."

"Alright."

"YIKES! A mouse-trap in my drawer!" Someone yelped.

"Not again…" The Chief sighed.

"War Rock…!" Acid grumbled, for once.

"I know, man. Hope the guy gets a lesson this time around."

"Such illogical happenings, they drive my mental processes mad!" Acid complained next.

"You're not the only one, believe me. Welcome to the club. Sheesh."

23:48 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Ungh… Grah…! Fuck…! I'll kill you yet…! With the strength of my anger and hatred…! You deserve it…! Demon…!"

"Subaru! Calm down! That's an order!"

"Huh! Ah! Huff, huff… M-Master?"

"Yes. That's me. Now calm down. That's an order."

"Y-yes, sir… Roger, sir…"

"Good. Breathe deeply."

Subaru finally woke up on his hospital room's bed: he had an IV on his right arm to supply him with nutrients given the label on the bag: he also had an oxygen mask on.

"Yes, sir…"

He breathed in and exhaled several times in a row: Lartes, sitting on a chair to his right, stood up and checked the readings of a Real Wave screen close by.

"Let's see… Heartbeats are normal. Blood pressure too… Breathing too. EEG is stable and normal… Good. Take it easy. By the way: did you know that Miss Shirogane got promoted to Student Council President Class President?"

"That again…! It's too long…! No wonder _iinchou_ still says "just call me _iinchou_!" despite that…!" He laughed.

"And her parents want to rename her Athena. Because the name "Luna" only makes her live in the Moon. The whole time. Moon Disaster will have a copyright trial with her."

"Copyright trial…! Athena…!" He laughed again.

"And Ushijima believes "ego" is a breed of mango."

"Ego is a breed of… mango! Gonta! Only you could come up with such a weird association!"

"Saishouin says his 16th law of common sense impedes Miss Shirogane from descending back to Earth."

"16th law of common sense! Why not 1st or 2nd? Man. Kizamaro and his "laws"… He never changes!"

"It'd seem he wants to join the cast of a fantasy film and be a dwarf on it: Maro-Kiza, the Last Brave Wise Dwarf."

"Maro-Kiza…! Last Brave… Wise… Dwarf? Too long!"

"I know. Nangoku says he'll marry a girl named Kitagoku."

"Nangoku – san…!"

"Oh yes. And the Big Wave's newest motto is: "a billion blistering Battle Cards!"…"

"Blistering Battle Cards? Oh come on!"

"… Well? Do you feel more relaxed?"

"Y-yes, sir… Well… Guess the morale hasn't changed much… What day is it today?"

"It's almost Wednesday."

"So in the end it's been… 17 days…" He sighed.

"I know. But. Subaru. Don't blame yourself for this. Things were of a scale never seen before. None of us could've been ready for this. Promise me one thing: you won't fight out of hatred or revenge. Can you promise that, Subaru?"

"Yes, sir… I never break promises, sir…"

"That's my disciple. Oh well."

"How did you find me, anyway?"

"The culprit gave out the location and fled. Can you tell us any names the guy used?"

"Ganondorf. But I'm sure it was a fake name to begin with."

"Undoubtedly… How smug… To use the name of the Demon King…"

"So Ganondorf is supposed to be a Demon King, huh? The guy had enough with being the Demon Tribe Chief."

"No wonder. A mad leftover like that can't ever dare to come up with a title that sounds like they're above Maria. That Sofia woman's title was lame too… Empress is the same as Queen…" He trailed off and fumed while he wiped his glasses.

"Who?"

"Ah! True. Well. It's a bit of a complicated tale. Akatsuki will tell you once you're discarded. By the way… Did you notice that the culprit left a message in your right arm?"

"I felt like something rubbed against it but then again I couldn't see anything to begin with." He recalled.

"Did they mention any specific places or persons or…?" Lartes asked of him next.

"Now that you mention it, sir… The guy once said that I was but an aperitif before the main dish…"

"Like we thought…"

"What was the message about?"

"Well… That was something like a manifesto of a yet-to-be-committed-crime… Yet it's something outside of you guys' capabilities…" He trailed off and sighed.

"Why's that?"

"… Do you remember the incident with Clock Genius?"

"… Ah! Does that mean that…?" He whispered back.

"Indeed. Sorry for the vague talk but you never know. I made sure no – one's around and no – one's hearing yet…"

"So it was no commoner, after all. No mere leftover."

"No. Maybe it was an agent Maria hired and who got fascinated by her intelligence so he didn't mind bowing to her and doing her biding: did he sound fanatical?"

"Totally, sir. Totally fanatic, sir."

"Hum. I see. Well. We've told the Satella Police that we believe it means the Subspace domain itself. It's a pity we can't tell them the truth but it's too dangerous."

"Well, yes… I know, sir. One cannot be carefree when it comes to those topics, sir…"

"Well. Boss and the 3 Musketeers already headed there. Let's hope we can make it on time… Alerts have been sent and security has been mobilized… The local investigation agency has begun to run searches as well as it to send a warning…"

"I see, sir…"

"Well. Let's quit the gloomy talk here. We'll discuss it further in the days to come, anyway."

"Roger, sir."

"Oh yeah. Boss decided to momentarily switch Omega's modes because he was too tense and barked at anyone and anything. He recorded a message and left it to me..."

"… Yo~! B-B-B-B-Bertie~! Been a while! Uncle Mars Warrior says that Shangai ducks cannot possibly overcome Hong Kong ducks yet Dragonus Hellus says that Beijing ducks shall be supreme!" Omega's voice rang out yet his tune sounded more relaxed, carefree, teen-like and extremely amused.

"A war of Choina ducks? Wouldn't surprise me… They're always brawling to claim the title of "best city restaurant"…"

"So I went to see Warus Rockus – samus but it turns out he got punished 'cause he skipped homework and Ikuta – sensei said: "A: I get annoyed. B: I get pissed off for REAL!" and choose "B", you see!"

"Ikuta – sensei? Oh come on. Where'd he get idea that _sensei_ chooses between two choices?"

"Dunno. I asked Harp and it'd seem Libra was always acting like that from time to time: given how he's shaped like scales and got two scales then he must choose which one is more important."

"That Libra guy… Really."

"And the Wolverine descendant went mad with the full moon thus bringing shame to his ancestors!"

"Oh come on. Oguro – san did it again? Sheesh."

"And lil buku – sama stole some Cards!"

"Cancer Bubble? The guy… He never learns."

"Oho! Whom do we have here? It's the cadet!"

"What now, sir." Blood Shadow sighed.

"Did you find the crab tins Kir Osh scattered inside of your cupboard?"

"There were none, sir. Stop making up stuff, sir!"

"Oho. I can see someone coming. It's Dragonus Hellus!"

"Dragon Hell, sir, Dragon Hell." He calmly replied.

"And his Hellishus Breathus!"

"… I see."

He seemingly went back the way he'd come and was mumbling: Blood Shadow sighed and Omega giggled.

"See ya in a while, B-B-B-B-Bertie~! Let's go, Brad Shad! Time to chase elusive writers who talk about phantom thieves and nocturnal barons!"

"Oh well. Better have some rest, then… The days ahead of us will become activity – filled… Good night, Master… Ah… Zzzz…"

Subaru fell asleep, grinning, while Lartes sighed in relief and smiled…


	15. Chapter 15: Of moons and sages

**Chapter 15: Of moons and sages**

11:24 AM (Japan Time), Friday December the 21st…

"… Yes, come in!"

"Well there. Subaru – kun. You seem to be alright by now."

"_Iinchou_! Thanks for coming."

"So?"

"So… What?"

"Did you go there?"

"Go? Where?"

"The Yaeba Resort… You went to flirt with that girl or…?"

"Luna…"

"Yikes! Mom!"

Luna came into Subaru's hospital room: he was sitting in an armchair and had been working on what apparently was pending homework that he'd placed atop a small table: she immediately put on a suspecting face as she leant both hands on the table while looming towards him: she began to come up with weird questions before she got to the point: an annoyed voice rang out from behind and Ms. Shirogane came in.

"How many times do we need to go over this? He's been abducted for 16 days and when you finally meet him you accuse him of having skipped classes, worried everyone and all just to go flirt with a girl? Your paranoia and jealousy are going to be in the way of your career!" She scolded in a hushed tone of voice.

"B-but it's obvious that…!"

"Proof! Give me proof."

"My Luna Instinct is enough proof!"

"Instincts can never be used as proof! You stupid girl!"

"What did you say? You granny!"

"Granny! Me!"

"Oh boy." Subaru sighed.

"Huff! Let's go the street: I'm not going to start a scene in front of a neighbor! Come!"

"Uack! Let me go of my right ear, granny! SUBARU – KUN! I'LL EXPOSE YOUR AFFAIRS! YOU WOMANIZER!"

"Shut up!"

Ms. Shirogane pulled Luna away by the right ear and came out of the room as Luna brandished threats.

"Lovely. We settled the pressure from the "QT" front only to open up a new front. Someone should direct them to a psychologist." He groaned out of exasperation.

"What happened, Subaru?"

"It's obvious, Gonta – kun. _Iinchou_ was on the Moon again."

"Man. _Iinchou_… What's with the gal?"

"Don't ask me. It goes beyond Kizamaro's Laws of Common Sense."

"What are those? Math problems?"

"No~…"

Gonta and Kizamaro came to visit next: Gonta looked puzzled at what he'd seen outside, Kizamaro sighed, Gonta sighed next, Kizamaro shrugged, Gonta frowned and Kizamaro slapped his face in defeat.

"Man. That gal again…" Jack complained as he came in.

"What madness. I now prefer War Rock to that. She's been pestering us to no end saying we were accomplices of a womanizer!" Tsukasa groaned as he stepped in.

"And claiming her "Luna Instinct" was the ultimate proof, too…!"

"Why does the madness chase us all?" Subaru groaned.

"We'd all like to know that. Really." Tsukasa fumed.

"What's with the long faces?" Lartes asked as he came in.

"_Iinchou_!" Everyone replied.

"Not Miss Shirogane again… I'll send her mother a recommendation: maybe some pseudo-amnesia could help make her forget her silly ideas and make her focus on the problem at hand." Lartes sighed as slapped his forehead.

"I'm not done yet!" Luna rushed back in.

"You sure are!" Lartes directed an annoyed glare at her.

"Sir! Your disciple is a womanizer!"

"By all the… Miss! You really need some therapy. His chip implant is read-only data. It can't be deleted or replaced or modified. He's got his memories of each of these 16 days of suffering. Any judge will say that you say nonsense." Lartes growled.

"W-what? What does that mean?" She looked puzzled.

"I've got proof! That's what I mean! Irrefutable proof!" He summarized while hissing.

"Is t-that so…?" She turned white from fear.

"LU-NA!"

"Yikes!"

"You thought you could ditch me? Come! I apologize for this child's stupid behavior, _sensei_."

"Excuse me, ma'am. I thought I could recommend you the services of a psychologist I'm familiar with. She has experience in the field." Lartes politely bowed and then gave her a visiting card.

"Excellent. This lady will know how to deal with you, spoiled child!"

"But I want my shining knight back! To take part on my newest play: "Of Moons and Sages"!" Luna began to blurt.

"What shining knight and nonsense? Subaru – kun didn't do any of what he did because he wanted to, you know. Right?"

"Yes, ma'am. _Iinchou_… All I did as Rock Man was because I _had_ to it because _no one else _could do it. I did because I _could_. I could _make a difference_. In short: it wasn't to show off."

"HUH? Then what was the point?"

"LU-NA! You didn't listen to anything of it or WHAT?"

"B-but it's too complicated!"

"What are you saying NOW? Complicated? You who get "outstanding" on Math and Physics? How can this be complicated? It's not like he's speaking in Chinese, is it?"

"B-b-but… I want my shining knight back!"

"By all the… You sound like a 5 year old girl who won't let go of her stuffed toy, even! YOU'RE ABOUT TO TURN 15 AND YOU STILL BEHAVE LIKE A 5 YEAR OLD!" She yelled.

"T-t-that's…"

"Do you want to know the full extent of my ANGER?"

"N-n-no…!"

"Then get moving! What a scene! My goodness! I feel SO ashamed: you'll bring shame to our family name yet! What a child! That's what happens for not looking after her. I should've hired an instructor! We'll have a LOT of talk to do! My word!"

Luna ran off and Ms. Shirogane followed at a brisk pace: the group sighed in defeat.

"Man." Gonta muttered.

"No comments." Kizamaro muttered next.

"This is maddening." Jack cursed.

"It drives you mad. For real." Tsukasa groaned.

"Mugranya~h! Someone build a damned shelter already!" Kiboyama grumbled.

"What a child!" Lartes cursed.

"What a promising winter." Subaru dully muttered.

"Well. Let's not let that spoil the mood. Welcome back!" Kizamaro tried to cheer the group up.

"That's right! Welcome back, Subaru!" Gonta grinned.

"We need someone to suggest a diet to Gonta – kun."

"YIKES!"

"Well, you know… The class atmosphere isn't the same sans you, Subaru – kun." Tsukasa smiled.

"Of course it isn't."

"Chut!"

"Oh! Veronica – chan."

Misora, disguised as "Veronica", came in and made the "silence" sign to indicate them that they had to play along.

"Welcome back, Subaru – kun. We missed you."

"Thank you, everyone."

"I'll be outside." Lartes smiled.

He walked out of the room while an animated chat began.

"… sneaky and suspicious vegetables on his bed…"

"Oh come on! Kizamaro! Man! _Iinchou_ placed those there, you know!"

_Well. I'm finally back. You don't scare me anymore, you villain! Hah!_

12:45 PM (Japan Time)…

"… So… How do you feel like?"

"I still feel very dizzy and I've got recurring headaches. But I guess this is better than nothing. Hard to believe I've been impersonated by two and a half years…"

"I'm sorry, Queen Tia. I should've realized earlier."

"Oh, Akatsuki… Again with the _macho_ mood?"

"Oho. You remembered that."

"Of course. How many times did we clash out of that?"

Akatsuki had come to visit the real Queen Tia as she rested in a hospital room: she firstly complained of dizziness and headaches: Akatsuki then a sighed and got a slightly depressed expression but Queen Tia knew it was some acting so she grinned at that: Akatsuki chuckled and Queen Tia seemed to find it funny to remember that.

"You can be pretty _tsundere_ when you want to."

"I know. I thought that I had to act like that or King wouldn't take me seriously. It worked, though."

"Yeah. I know. But you can forget that already."

"You've been involved in a lot of stuff in this time, too… I'm surprised you haven't matured."

"Oh! You know me. I don't want to show it. I feel like that if I do that I'll get picky and annoying."

"As usual." She snickered.

"Guess that."

"Shidou. Sorry to interrupt but you've got a call from Yoiri – hakase."

"What does she want now?"

"To give you a suggestion."

"Fine~… Yes, hakase~?"

"Oh my. Shidou – chan. I just remembered something."

"And what would that be?"

"That it'd do well for you to have a can of Super Brilliant Green Emerald Herbal Tea..."

"… Too long." Queen Tia giggled.

"Acid…"

"… Hakase. That product stopped being produced 18 years ago." Acid calmly reported back.

"Oh my. Is that so…? And here I thought that I saw one of the children here have a can of one the other day around… Or maybe it was something else? My, my… One's perceptions… Thanks for reminding me, Acid – chan."

"Suffixes are unnecessary. Hakase."

"My, my. You lack passion in life. Maybe I should've told the development staff to put some more energy into you…"

"Maybe so. But I am fine as I am. Now, then…"

"Wait a minute, Acid! Akatsuki – kun! Are you there?"

"What now, Utagai – san…?"

"Help me! The fortune teller tells me that a great doom named "envoy of the attic" is coming for me~!" Utagai yelled.

"That means your flat's owner! It means that you've got to pay the monthly rent!" Amachi scolded.

"Ah! Is t-that so? Why attic?"

"Because sometimes the owner of the apartment building lives in the attic floor and personally goes to tell residents to pay the rent…"

"I s-see."

"Did a fortune teller really tell you that?"

"Y-yes! I swear! Her name was Virgo!"

"EH? Virgo? But she was deleted!" Queen Tia exclaimed.

"Maybe your imposter circulated it to begin with." Akatsuki calmly deduced.

"Sheesh. What a random woman."

"Random alright."

"Ah! So it was a fake…?"

"Wasn't it obvious?" Cygnus sighed.

"Well. I'll drop by the hospital later too." Daigo muttered.

"We must be positive despite what happened. We mustn't let the enemy make our mood decline." The Chief warned.

"Alright. I'll cut."

"Take care, Shidou – chan."

"Yes, hakase~…"

Akatsuki ended the call as Jack came in and sat down next to Queen Tia: she stretched her left hand and Jack grabbed it while forming half a smile yet looking sad at the same time.

"Neechan, I…"

"Don't worry. Jack. All will go well. Eventually… We'll be able to return to our nation too… But we're still young… Let's wait some years… And decide if it's wise or not."

"Gotcha, neechan."

"Well. It'd seem this incident has come to a momentary end. Hopefully we'll be able to enjoy a break until January."

"Let's hope so, yeah." Jack shrugged.

"Shidou."

"What now…"

"Transmission incoming from Cancer Bubble…"

"How the heck does the guy know my number? We change the tactical radio frequencies on each operation."

"Maybe Sigma is involved at some stage."

"Sheesh. Alright, Cancer Bubble! Whaddya want?"

"Heh! I beat the culprit! Like I thought: it was Ya Salam!" Cancer Bubble snickered.

"Who?" He frowned.

"Buku! Wrong! Hasami! That was a mere Denpa Virus! It's named "Kacapet"! And yields the "Green Carpet"! Buku!" Cancer corrected.

"What? But the guy looked middle-eastern and all!" Cancer Bubble argued back.

"Buku! I think the term is "Indian" but I don't think it's related! This is some sort of trolling! Buku!"

"Wha~t? Whose work is this?"

"Buro~! The great me~!"

"Ox! Ya! It had to be ya! Ya wanted to troll me, huh?"

"Buro~! More like I wanted to test ya brains… I think it's odd that Gonta, with his low IQ and all, got accepted and you weren't called for. Guess they wanted someone with raw strength. But then again it was Jack's Noise Card what totally rebuilt me. Buro~…"

"Well. That's true." Jack shrugged.

"Alright, alright. You two. Cool it down. We don't want to start a nation-wide brawl." Akatsuki ordered.

"Who's there? Aotsuki, was it?" Cancer Bubble asked.

"_Aka_tsuki!" He corrected.

"Atatsuki?"

"AKA-TSUKI! AKA! A-KA! RED! AKATSUKI IS "DAWN"!"

"Ah! OK, OK! Man! Akatsuki! Sorry! I'm playing Misora – chan's latest single in one channel and the music overlaps."

"Then hit the pause button and talk to me!"

"Hadn't thought of that… Why, I wonder…"

"Buro~! Cancer there is lazy!"

"Buku! Ox there is a rampaging savage!"

"Stop already!" Miles interjected.

"Weren't we training together? Why make us chase after you all the way to the Yaeba Resort?" Storm groaned.

"Buku! This guy wanted to troll me!"

"Ox… If you don't behave then Vadous is gonna lock you too."

"YIKES!"

"Wouldn't surprise me, either…" Storm sighed.

"Shut it down already, Acid."

"… Acknowledged, Shidou. Too many undecipherable actions and motivations." He muttered.

"And stop talking like a lawyer, will ya?"

"I – am – not – a – lawyer. Shidou." He dully intoned.

"There it goes again." Jack laughed.

"Maybe you need one, Akatsuki." Queen Tia suggested.

Acid shrugged, Akatsuki shrugged and chuckled, Jack laughed and Queen Tia smiled at him…

21:12 PM (Japan Time)…

"… So, Master… Any news?"

"Insofar it'd seem nothing has happened in the "A" front… yet. But it's a matter of time. Security is high but we're not taking any chances: we'll have to come up with new tactics."

"Brought forth by Warus Rockus – samus!"

"What? How did you get out of the server?"

"Dunno. I suddenly came on."

"Maybe the culprit left something behind after the two intrusions just to troll us?"

"Wouldn't surprise me."

"YO! YO! YO! Moon Mexican, on the ring!"

"Oh crap."

Lartes was having a chat with Subaru that evening as he sat in front of him: he told him how things were like until War Rock suddenly popped out to their mutual surprise: Subaru formulated a hypothesis and Lartes fumed: they both groaned when Moon Disaster began to broadcast through the Hunter – VG.

"Lartes? It's me, Kir Osh… You see… It'd seem our culprit left behind a program that would, after a given time, release those two from the server: Black Ace got fooled because the digital signature had been faked and it was led to think it was legit."

"Lovely."

"Mwah, hah, hah. The culprit must like me!" War Rock laughed as he flipped in mid-air.

"On the contrary: you're but amusing small fry. He surely let you free to make us feel headaches." Kir Osh grumbled.

"Wha~t?"

"Subaru, are you there? Ah! Good evening, Doctor."

"Ah! Ma'am. Good evening."

"Hi, mom…"

"Was the supper alright?"

"Of course. But it can't beat mom's cooking."

"My, my. You praise me too much, dear."

Akane came in and sat on the chair that Lartes freed while War Rock was discussing with Kir Osh.

"Where's the culprit!"

"Dunno. Maybe in Vienna."

"Vienna? Wasn't that a sausage store?"

"Sigma…!" Kir Osh got annoyed.

"It's a city. Compete with Hyde. See who finds him firstly." Lartes told him with a shrug.

"A competition with Hyde~? Yahoo~!"

"YO! YO! YO! The Hyde hides his hide!"

"How original. Clown." Burai hissed close by.

"YIKES!"

THUD! BLOF! CRASH! SLASH!

"Shut that down, Kir Osh."

"I'm on it, man. There."

"Luckily I picked the thing and lowered the volume… It won't get in the way of their talk…"

Lartes had picked the Hunter – VG and lowered the volume while Akane and Subaru talked: War Rock had fled the room as well.

"… Eh… Sorry for the late night visit, yet…" Misora, disguised, came into the room.

"Oh my. Misora – chan. Welcome."

"Hi again, Misora – chan. How was it like at the studios?"

"Oh well. Urakata – san approved of a new CM, Suzuka and Ice have finished filming a new single too, and everyone is cherry since Christmas is about to come."

"That's good to hear."

"What happened with Luna – chan in the end?"

"I think she's still being scolded."

"Wouldn't surprise me… She's not a bad person but she's got that jealousy and paranoia…" She sighed.

"So." Solo nonchalantly questioned as he came in.

"Ahem, ahem." Lartes cleared his throat.

Solo merely had a quick glance and Lartes signaled towards the door as he headed there so Solo followed him, closing it: Laplace appeared inside and began to look around but Harp was keeping an eye on him to make sure he didn't fumble with anything.

"… Da… Ra… Gu… Mu…"

"… No. You can't interact with these. Get back into the Hunter or I'll shut you down too." Solo grumbled from the outside.

"Ga!"

Laplace gasped and disappeared while Harp giggled.

"Pororon."

"I dared to go see _sensei_… What an experience! She admitted that that tale the imposter told was a fake from the start to the end: she'd never run into such a happening." Misora explained.

"That's nice to hear, too."

"… I'm back. After telling him what he wanted to know he went back: I didn't want him to spoil the mood."

"Lartes? It's me again… No, there's no problem yet… Now it turns out Dragon's got a blog come out of nowhere and he's being flooded with comments because they think he's a comedian. What do I do? Dragon seems to be at wits' end as well." Kir Osh reported.

"By all the… Post a comment yourself and call Akatsuki: make them post a notice saying that it's a hacking site."

"Ah! Alright. Sorry."

"Don't mind it. The culprit left stuff to drive us mad there and there from the looks of things."

"So, you two… Anything?" Akane teased.

"Mom!" Subaru blushed.

"Ma'am!" Misora blushed too.

"Oh?"

"Eh… Ma'am…" Lartes timidly called out.

"Don't worry, doctor! It's a joke. A joke."

"Well, ma'am… I think that one should be careful…" Lartes politely suggested.

"Hmmm… Guess that."

"Mom! It's not funny!"

"Ma'am! Please! We're serious and decent!"

"I never said you weren't, my dear."

"Pororon?" Harp looked amused.

"… Did ya say something?" Misora questioned.

"Guess no." She shrugged.

"Fine. Anyway… Ma'am. Can we please quit it with the jokes? I don't want to feel this embarrassment again."

"Oh dear. I didn't intend to embarrass you."

"Sheesh. Mom…"

"I didn't find Hyde in Biela!" War Rock protested.

"Vienna, not Biela. In Austria. Europe." Lartes whispered.

"That far? I thought ya meant a city in Hokkaido!"

"You could've tried to look it up, couldn't you?" He sighed.

"So, Rock… Don't you have something to say?"

"Ah! T-that's… Well… Sorry, Subaru… Lately… I thought I could keep ya laughing and all like old times and…" He sighed.

"So it was for old times' sake… See, Rock… There's a limit to how many jokes people can tolerate. Even me. So you should limit yourself to one or two per day. Deal?"

"OK… I don't want to start a fight over that so…"

"Say... I suddenly feel in the mood to look forwad to 2207!" Misora grinned.

"How curious… Me too… Let's set a goal: reach 2207 in the best of moods!" Subaru suddenly suggested.

"Heh! I foresee a snow war, Subari~!" War Rock announced.

"Oh my. Reminds me of my youth…" Akane giggled.

"Well. Why not. I'll do well to vent off the stress. To 2207 we go!"

The group laughed in a cherry way: the crisis had finally ended and nothing would spoil the upcoming Christmas season…

**THE END**


End file.
